Second Life
by FanGirl93
Summary: Adopted from Nia River. The Battle at the Ministry was much worse than in the books. Ron and Hermione are but mere shadows of their former selves, the Weasleys are no longer speaking to Harry and Sirius and Remus are dead. Harry has a plan to fix it all. Abandoned.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except my own characters and ideas I put into this fic. I've adopted it from Nia River so the original idea is hers. JKR obviously owns Harry Potter.

* * *

**Prologue**

– _Tues, 30/7/1996_ **–**

Harry sat curled up in a ball in the corner of his bedroom at Privet Drive, gaze focussed intently at the object in his hands. The multiple possibilities were turning over and over in his mind as he once again contemplated the disastrous discussion that had taken place in Dumbledore's office.

A prophecy. A prophecy foretelling that he, Harry James Potter, was the one destined to defeat Voldemort. A prophecy that by all rights he should have already known. A destiny that he should have been trained and prepared for since he was a child. But where had the training been; where was the preparation?

He had instead grown up ignorant of not only his destiny, but also of even the most basic knowledge of his world. Said childhood – if one could call it by such an erroneous title – had in actuality been spent mostly in a small cupboard, learning such useful things as just how long a boy can go without food or sunlight. Learning how to survive unnoticed by those around him. And although Harry was excellent at surviving when all the odds were stacked against him, he did not think that he would be able to defeat, Voldemort.

Yet another thing to blame on Dumbledore, he realised. The old man had been the one to send him there. He had even gone so far and personally delivered him right on the doorstep. And he just knew that his parents would not have wanted that, which brought up the question of their will. Was it simply not up to date, or did they not think to include alternate guardians if Sirius was somehow unable to take him in. Or had the old man simply ignored their wishes in favour of his own.

Added to that, he had even _admitted_ that he knew Harry was mistreated there. But it was for the best, wasn't it? For the greater good. Because Albus-To-Many-Middle-Names-To-Remember-Dumbledore knew better. 'To hell with Dumbledore,' he thought viciously, once again cursing the headmaster's manipulative personality and his obsessive need to control everything and every_one_. He wondered why he had never noticed those traits in him before but cast it aside as irrelevant.

Suddenly he sighed wearily and deflated, admitting to himself that despite his actions Dumbledore wasn't an evil man. He was simply a misguided one – _very_ misguided – who was overconfident in himself. He honestly and truly thought he was doing the right thing. The thing that annoyed Harry the most was that he could see exactly why Dumbledore thought that. Everybody looked up to Dumbledore for answers. Whether it was about running the Ministry or the best way of combating Voldemort, everybody looked to _Dumbledore_ for the answers, usually without trying to find some for themselves. And Dumbledore, the ever-forgiving fool that he was, let them. And answered them. But he got so used to being asked for help and giving out answers that he himself forgot to ask for help and look for alternative answers from other people.

That didn't excuse it of course, but it helped to drain some of the anger he directed at his former mentor. Still, Harry doubted he'd ever put as much faith in the old man again. Things could have been so different if Dumbledore had only been honest with him; so very different. But Harry didn't want to think about that now, it still hurt too much.

It had all started with 'the dream', as he had taken to referring to it. More specifically the false dream. The vision that had lured him stupidly to the Ministry of Magic.

The dream was the reason for all of it. The reason the Weasleys all broke down every time their youngest son was mentioned. The reason said son had begged for his life to be ended. The reason a bright bushy haired young witch would never again walk the halls of Hogwarts. The reason he would never see his godfather ever again or hear his voice.

He cursed himself again. If only he had used the mirror; if only he'd listened to Hermione; if only the headmaster had just been honest with him; if only, if only, if only… But 'if onlys' were useless and the damage was done. He'd gone, his friends had followed, and all hell had broken loose.

Neville, Luna and Ginny had fared the best of the lot – after Harry that is. Their injuries were painful certainly, but nothing compared to the fate that had befallen his two best friends.

Ron had been attacked by flying brains – off all things – and had things turned out differently Harry knew they would have laughed at the irony of it. As it was however, Ron had lost his mind. Or to be more accurate he had gain several minds; minds of some of Wizarding history's worst sociopaths. To make matter worse Ron was still in there but was not the dominant personality.

Harry let a tear fall, remembering the hateful words his once best mate would spew at the friends and family he once loved. The redhead was now kept in a secure hospital room and would likely never be released. Worse still was the one time when Ron had actually managed to overpower the personalities whilst Harry was alone with him.

"Harry," a voice rasped and a dark head shot up.

"R-Ron, is it really you?"

"Yeah. Mate you got to," he paused as though struggling within himself – which he likely was, "You gotta end it. End me. P-please."

"End it?" he repeated in shock, "What? No! No Ron you just have to keep fighting. They'll figure out a way to make you bett-"

"No! Just coz I can't talk Harry, doesn't mean I can't hear," Harry's heart fell at the hopelessness in his friend's voice, "The healers said that there was no way- no way."

The redhead groaned in frustration before an evil smirk settled over his features. Harry took a deep breath and sure enough insults and curses began spewing from his friends too-pale lips as another personality took over.

Ron wasn't the only one forever changed. Hermione, usually so lively and energetic was now but a shadow of herself. She was caught across the front with a dark version of the cutting curse. She still had the scar, purple, ugly and ropy looking. Due to the nature of the curse it had yet to properly heal and probably never would.

She was constantly in pain – especially when trying to walk around – and would be for the rest of her life. She needed help with most everyday tasks when the pain got too bad, and she now spent most of her time in the magical version of a wheelchair.

As if the blow to her pride wasn't enough, the death eater had then thrown a dark confundus-style curse at her. She was now permanently unable to focus and think clearly at all, thus destroying what she valued most in herself and that which most defined her – her intelligence. She was utterly devastated.

Then there was Sirius. And Remus. He stifled a sob. Harry wasn't sure which hurt ran deepest – having to see the shadows of themselves that his friends had become, or the thought of never seeing his godfather or pseudo godfather again. Sirius had fallen through The Veil, and Remus, well it was a known fact that werewolves were highly allergic to silver. It was just too bad that the Death Eaters knew that as well. Out of the two of them it was easy to say that Remus had the most painful death, but that was really because nobody actually knew what happened when a person crossed through The Veil. Well, other than they died of course.

The thing that really got to Harry the most though was the fact that the rest of the Weasley family wouldn't look him in the eye. None of them wanted anything to do with him any more. Harry couldn't find it in himself to blame them though. It had been him, after all, who had led his friends to the Department of Mysteries. Neville and Luna disagreed with him when he had brought it up. They'd said that they had all known the risks involved and chosen to go with Harry anyway and that they had gone because they had wanted to,_ not_ because Harry had forced them too.

It didn't really matter though, Harry thought as he wiped away his tears. It didn't matter because the might be a way – a way to change it all.

Harry focussed his eyes back of the object in his hand. A Time-Turner. He'd found it a few hours ago in the pocket of a school robe whilst going through his trunk. He could only assume that it had somehow slipped in during the fighting in the Time Room at the Department of Mysteries. His first thought was to go back and stop himself from going to the Ministry. Until that is, he took a closer look at the device.

It was different from the one he remembered Hermione had used – which had been small, silver and suspended on a chain. This was an even smaller hourglass, only about the length of his little finger and was an odd metallic purple colour with golden sand. Said sand seemed to constantly float up and down the glass regardless of gravity and so he had a feeling that it was activated somewhat differently than being tipped end over end.

There were also odd symbols on the ends of planets and stars which reminded him of a wizard-style watch. In a flash of inspiration he realised that was just what it was. No doubt it needed to be set according to sun, moon and star positions rather than just turned over for every hour. He also had a feeling that the silver button in the centre of the symbols was used to activate the device.

As he considered that an unbelievable idea occurred to him. If this really worked the way he thought, then theoretically it meant that he could go back even further in time. Perhaps – just perhaps – he could even go back far enough to warn his parents about Pettigrew.

'I could have the childhood I always wanted,' he thought excitedly, 'a childhood with my parents. I could save my friends.'

A look of determination etched itself across his face as he stored the time-turner under the loose floorboard and stood up.

The most obvious complication was that unauthorised time-travel was highly illegal in the eyes of the Ministry. The best thing to do would be to form a false identity, he decided. He also needed to decide just how far back he needed to travel to give himself time to achieve all his goals. First things first, he would need to pull out his Astronomy books and perform all the necessary calculations for his destination settings. Then he would need to pack all his belongings for the trip. Lastly he needed to decide what to do once he got there.

Now he just had to make it happen.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own nothing except my own characters and ideas I put into this fic. I've adopted it from Nia River so the original idea is hers. JKR obviously owns Harry Potter.

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Making Plans**

– _Tues, 30/7/1996_ **–**

It was nearing midnight at Privet Drive. The only light on the street – apart from the streetlamps – emanated from the window of the smallest bedroom of the residence at number four. In said bedroom there was to be found a dark haired young man – none other than Harry Potter – and surrounding him were a number of parchments littered with calculations.

With a relieved sigh Harry finally set down his quill and leaned back to survey his work. He had wished a number of times over the last hour or so that he had either paid more attention in Astronomy lessons or that he had the old Hermione handy to do the work for him. Either way it would have gone rather more quickly.

Still, although it had taken him some time he believed he had finally finished the calculations for his destination. He had done them multiple times and the last three times all resulted in the same answer, so he felt that that was his best chance of success. He had decided the best course of action would be to go back a month before the fateful Halloween of 1981, setting his destination at around the end of the September preceding it.

A month should give him enough time to get into contact with his parents – most probably via Dumbledore as they would already be under the Fidelius Charm with Sirius as secret keeper at that point. All he needed to do was convince them not to switch to Pettigrew.

Rubbing tiredly at his eyes he looked over at his battered second-hand alarm clock.

"Eleven fifty-one," he muttered to himself.

In just under ten minutes he would be sixteen years old. Once again, Harry would wait until the clock struck twelve until he went to sleep that night. Initially, Harry had hoped that he could make his trip through time that night as there was no chance that the Order would be collecting him then but his calculations showed that the best time would be to wait until the next night, the night when the _'seventh month died.'_ The irony was hilarious.

Harry looked over to his clock, waiting silently until the digits changed from _11:59 _to _12:00_. Unfortunately though, this year, there would be no birthday cards from his friends. With a sigh and barely concealed tears for Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Remus, Harry climbed into bed and fell asleep.

* * *

Harry was up early the next morning. The first thing he did was pack everything he would be bringing with him into his trunk. By the time that was done the sun was high in the sky and Harry was starving. Of course, Harry was used to being hungry so he just put it out of his mind. He would eat later. After a short trip to the bathroom, Harry grabbed his Invisibility Cloak and left the house through the back door.

As silently as he could, Harry walked to the playground a couple of streets away from Privet Drive and hopefully from the Order members. He just hoped that Moody was not on duty. That man would spot and follow him with that magical eye of his and Harry did _not_ need that right now. Glancing around him to make sure that nobody was in sight; Harry pulled off his Cloak and stuffed it into his pocket. It never ceased to amaze him how a Cloak of that size could fit into any sized pocket, no matter how small.

Harry pulled out his wand and raised his arm, signalling the Knight Bus. A loud _bang_ later and the triple decker purple bus popped into view. Harry hopped on before Stan Shunpike could hop off and bore him with his pre-prepared speech; time was of the essence after all. "How much to get to The Leaky Cauldron right now?"

"If you want to skip the queue then it'll cost you five Galleons." Surprisingly it wasn't Stan working but another teenager a few years older than Harry but Harry didn't recognise him.

"Here." Harry handed him six Galleons. The quicker they got him to The Leaky Cauldron the better. The ride was as bumpy and sickening as his first time on the bus but he made it to The Leaky Cauldron in record time. He donned his hat and sunglasses and stepped off the bus. It wasn't much of a disguise but it did hide his two most distinguishing features.

Harry passed through The Leaky Cauldron quickly, not stopping to chat to anybody, only giving Tom, the barman, a quick nod of the head as he passed. He wanted to get to Gringotts as quickly as possible. He was going to the past and he needed money. He might as well take what was in his vault. It was left to him after all.

* * *

At eleven fifty-nine that night, Harry was standing in the middle of his room hugging Hedwig to him. He had shrunken his trunk with an inbuilt feature that he could use without alerting the Ministry of Magic, and then put it into his pocket. The goblins hadn't been too happy when Harry had emptied his vault but Harry wasn't too concerned. It wasn't as if he wasn't going to re-open a vault when he got to the past. That was the first thing on his to-do list when he got there. It would be pretty stupid to leave for the past without a name and funds. He'd end up starving to death before he could do anything productive.

Harry took a deep calming breath and let it out slowly. He had expected to feel at least a bit nervous but found he was only determined and resolute. He _would_ change things. Things _would_ be better. Nothing else was acceptable. He had already moved the various clocklike hands until the sun, moon and various stars and planets were aligned as he needed them to be. Now he was just waiting until the clock struck twelve before he pressed the silver button.

Since this time turner didn't seem to have a chain to loop across the travellers' necks he could only hope holding his feathered friend near him and the turner would be enough. Cradling her even closer – wanting to be as sure as possible she wouldn't be left behind – he glanced once again at the time.

"Any second now," he murmured, his eyes remaining glued to the clock. He only had one chance to get this right.

Then several things happened at once. Firstly, the numbers on the clock switched from eleven fifty-nine to midnight. Secondly, Harry held Hedwig even closer and pressed the silver button atop the time-turner. Then lastly – though most certainly not least – the wards around Privet Drive collapsed as Harry Potter left his time behind in a blinding flash of light.

* * *

He felt light, uncomfortably insubstantial. Then there was a sort of squeezing which suddenly eased into a feeling of gliding. Almost as though there were no resistance at all. It really was a lovely feeling. Then the squeezing was back before it suddenly eased again. This time without the gliding he had found himself so fond of. He didn't really mind though because he now found that he could feel magic everywhere. It hung so very thickly in the air and he loved the feeling. This was so much better than gliding. He pulled it into himself greedily as he floated about. And oh, but he could float about like this forever. And he would have; but an annoying feeling of _wrongness_ niggled in the back of his thoughts. It was the lightness. The floating was so very nice, but still the lightness just didn't seem right. It felt so uncomfortable and wrong. But then the solution came to him. And it was so very obvious. Why he was positively surrounded in magic. So much magic. And what did magic do? Lots of things of course. It moved things and changed things and stopped things and started things. It even fixed things. And that's just what he would use it for; to fix the lightness. And so he did. And immediately wished he hadn't.

Oh, but it hurt! It hurt so, so much. It was like he was being ripped into an infinite number of tiny pieces and then slowly put together. He tried to cry out and for several moments nothing happened. Then there was a horrible sound and he realised he'd finally remembered how to scream. The back of his mind registered that there seemed to be someone else shrieking shrilly nearby but he soon forgot as the pain continued.

After what seemed an eternity the pain stopped and all that was left was the memory of it. He calmed down as he felt the magic around him again. Even without the floating it felt very nice. He began pulling it into himself again, wanting to feel it even closer. But suddenly it felt as though it was too much. Far too much. Then everything went black.

* * *

Harry opened his eyes slowly. The pain had gone but he still felt as if he was in a void. He no longer felt light like he did though, he felt normal. Looking around, Harry saw that there were two other people in the room with him, a boy who looked about four and a woman who looked to be in her early twenties. The three of them were in what looked to be the little boy's bedroom and he was being tucked into bed. Harry tried to get their attention, to apologise for barging in but they just ignored him. It was almost as if… yes; it was just like that time he had been in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

Harry moved closer to the bed so he could listen to the conversation. After all, if this _was _like a Pensieve then he would have to wait for the memory, or whatever this was, to finish before he could leave.

"Mum?" The little boy spoke first. Harry was surprised to find that he looked very much like a miniature version of himself. Eyes and hair included. Although the hair looked as if it had been tamed – somewhat.

"Yes, sweetheart?" The woman had long, jet black hair and striking blue-green eyes. Harry watched as she sat down on her son's bed beside him.

The boy looked hesitant now that he had his mother's attention but he spoke anyway. "Mum, who is my dad?"

The woman was visibly shaken and Harry almost made to steady her with a hand to her shoulder in case she overbalanced and fell of the bed before he remembered that he was insubstantial here. Wherever here was. "Oh, Kyle." She murmured and brushed the boy's hair out of his face only for it to fall back into his eyes again. She took a deep breath, much as the boy – Kyle – had done moments ago before speaking again. "I knew you were going to ask me this. I just didn't think that you would be asking so soon." The boy – Kyle – said nothing, just waiting patiently for an answer. "Your dad is called James Potter."

Harry reeled back in shock. _James Potter?_ This kid's dad was James Potter? But that couldn't be true; if it were then he would have been Harry's half-brother. But that was impossible… wasn't it?

Turning back to watch the memory, or whatever this was, Harry shook his head, as if to clear away the thoughts, he would think about that later. A lot later. Harry listened as the boy's mother explained how James had been in school when he – Kyle – was born, and how he didn't know about him. She went on to say that he knew about him now but that as there was a lot of fighting going on where he lived he couldn't come and see him, even though he wanted too. Apparently he felt that it would be too dangerous for anybody to know he had a son as he was on the frontlines of the fights.

Harry was still dazed as the memory faded out. He barely noticed when another scene began to play out before him. It was almost a duplicate of the first memory. The boy was asleep and he looked older. The mother sat perched on the side of her son's bed with a card in her hand and was shaking him awake. The boy opened his eyes blearily and smiled as his mother wished him a happy birthday.

The scene had a homey feel to it and Harry watched as the boy tore open the card that had a big number '6' on the front and then a present that his mother had pulled out from under the bed. The happy mood wasn't meant to last though as screams were heard from outside. Harry followed the mother over to the window and saw what was obviously Death Eaters creating havoc out on the streets.

The woman began to panic and quickly grabbed her son and prepared to Disapparate with him. She was too late however as just as the boy had untangled himself from the sheets his bedroom door was blown off the hinges. The head Death Eater himself stood in the doorframe. He really was a terrifying sight. He looked nothing like he had when he had resurrected himself in Harry's Fourth Year after the Tri-Wizard Tournament. He looked more like a properly aged Tom Riddle. Well, except for the eyes, they were just as red and deranged looking as they had always been when Harry had seen him.

Harry watched, horrified as Voldemort began torturing the woman in front of the young boy. He couldn't tear his eyes of the scene, it was morbidly fascinating. It was like watching a car crash; you knew what was about to happen but even so you couldn't tear your eyes away. The boy began screaming for Voldemort to stop but he didn't pay any heed. Finally, a long time after the woman had screamed herself hoarse, Voldemort seemed to grow tired of his games. He cast one final curse at the woman and a beam of sickly green light slammed into the poor woman's body, killing her instantly. The boy was shocked into silence and Voldemort, the bastard, laughed.

Suddenly, a Death Eater rushed into the room, almost crashing into the Dark Wanker. "My Lord," he began. He sounded rushed, out of breath. "The Aurors, they've arrived."

Voldemort sneered at the man. "Very well, activate the portkey." The Death Eater did as he was told and quickly left the room. Voldemort took one last look around the room and impatiently cast the Killing Curse at the boy who was now shaking his mother, obviously trying to wake her. Without a backwards glance, Voldemort activated his portkey, leaving before the Killing Curse had even hit the boy he had aimed to kill.

Harry watched as the same sickly green light that had struck the boy's mother, hit the boy himself. The boy was thrown across the room by the force of the Curse. But, to Harry's amazement the boys eyes flickered and he looked as if he had fallen asleep. Harry stepped closer to the young boy, and saw that his chest was still rising and falling. The boy had survived the Killing Curse. Just like Harry had.

The scene faded out again and then Harry was only able to glimpse the occasional scene. He watched as the boy grew older, as he travelled the world, learned languages and magic. From what Harry could gather the boy lived with an aunt and uncle and while they did not seem to be as bad as Harry's own relatives they seemed to always push the boy, making sure that he was the best at what he did. Harry always saw the boy with a book in his hand and if Harry had to have made a comparison then he would have said the boy was like a male version of Hermione.

The last scene he saw though was of the boy in a hospital, surrounded by Healers who were all frantic. They seemed to be trying to revive the boy. Although, Harry thought, he could hardly refer to him as a boy now, he was the same age as himself by the looks of things. Slowly Harry moved as close as he could to the teenager. He had no idea why, he just felt compelled to do so, but Harry reached out and touched the teenagers arm.

As soon as Harry's hand made contact with the teenagers arm, Harry felt the same sensation as he had felt when he had pressed the button on that Time-Turner. Once again he felt light, uncomfortably insubstantial. The squeezing that reminded Harry so much of Apparition was back again and then, as soon as Harry thought he was going to suffocate the squeezing stopped and he felt as if he was gliding. The feeling was hard to explain, it was almost a cross between flying and ice-skating. He felt no resistance from the elements at all. He felt free. It really was a lovely feeling.

Then, just like the last time the squeezing was back before it suddenly eased again. The gliding feeling was no longer there either but Harry could see the magic surrounding him again. But, he could also see, what were they? They seemed to look like – but no, that was impossible. Then again, was it? He had only seen a Pensieve once but Harry was sure that he was surrounded by both magic and memories. Suddenly, just _knowing_ that it was what he was meant to do, Harry found himself embracing all the magic and the memories. And immediately wished he hadn't.

The pain, it was so much worse than it had been the first time. Harry didn't even know how that was possible. He felt like he had been thrown into a wood chipper and then after he had been thrown out the other side, some sadistic fool was thoughtful enough to put him back together. If that really was the case then Harry would have cursed the fool into oblivion. Oh, the pain! It was so much, he didn't know if he could stand it at all. Not for one second longer.

As soon as that thought entered Harry's head, the pain stopped, it was if it had never happened. All that was left was the memory of it. He calmed down as he felt the magic around him again. Even without the gliding it felt very nice. It was calming him, soothing his traumatized nerves. He began pulling it into himself again, slowly this time, he had after all learned his lesson but that didn't mean that he didn't want to feel the way the magic played against his skin. But suddenly, before Harry could even register what was happening, the world went black around Harry once again, and he knew no more.

Well, at least until he woke up again.


	3. Chapter 2

**Diclaimer:** Belongs to JKR. Adopted from Nia River, I only own Kyle Potter.

**Chapter 3 – St. Mungo's**

**– _Thurs, 6/2/1992_ –**

When Harry awoke again it was to a white ceiling and a _very_ familiar smell. _'Damn,'_ he thought, _'what did I do to end up in the hospital wing _this_ time?'_ He reached a hand out to the bedside table beside him and fumbled for his glasses. Only there were no glasses waiting for him. Harry looked around in search of them but couldn't find them. It was with a shock that he realised that he didn't need them at all, everything was already in focus. _'Weird.' _

But Harry didn't think that it was as weird as what he had just been through, when he had been asleep or unconscious or whatever, he had found himself reliving that Kyle person's life as if it had been his own. The strangest thing about it though was that he had kept all of his own memories as well. Now Harry had two sets of memories, it was as if he had lived two lives and remembered the both of them.

Harry sat up with a groan and looked around himself. Not the hospital wing after all, he realised. _'I wonder where I am then.'_ Ah well, he would figure that out later as right now he was in desperate need of a toilet. Harry pushed himself out of the bed and straightened as he stood. He was out of the bed before the woman answered him. He had to grab the railing of the bed to keep himself upright at first but he managed to suppress the groan that wanted to make itself heard. Spotting a door to his left, Harry opened it and to his relief he found the toilet he had been looking for.

As he was washing his hands, Harry glanced up in the mirror that was hanging above the sink and nearly screamed when he saw the reflection. It was not his own image that was staring back at him; it was that boy's, Kyle. Kyle Potter's image was staring back at one thoroughly Harry Potter. Forcing himself to take a deep breath to calm down, freaking out would be counterproductive right now; Harry tried to clear his mind like Snape had told him to do many, many times. To his utmost surprise Harry was able to do so, easily. Out of nowhere was a memory of learning Occlumency, but Snape wasn't the instructor. Belatedly, Harry realised that it was one of the _other_ memories, one of Kyle's memories.

Breaking himself out of his (or Kyle's?) thoughts, Harry looked back at himself in the mirror. The last thing he remembered before he blacked out and went through all those memories was watching Healers surrounding Kyle. It looked as if Kyle had been dying. And then he, Harry, had touched Kyle's arm and it had felt as if he had been sucked into something. But no… that would mean… but that was impossible… wasn't it? It couldn't be possible that Harry had somehow _merged_ with Kyle, could it? It should be impossible but that's what seemed to have happened.

Snapping his wand out of his wand holster, Harry quickly cast an identification spell on himself. It was a handy spell that he had found during the Tri-Wizard Tournament the year before last. Granted, the spell hadn't been exactly useful during the competition but Harry was glad that he had learned it now, even though he had never envisioned using the spell on himself, in this situation.

Harry cast the spell five times before he let himself believe the results though he still felt as if it were impossible, how on Earth could Harry James Potter have suddenly become Kyle Ethan Potter. It was ludicrous. _'But so is going this far back in time to change the past,' _a tiny voice whispered in the back of his mind.

A scream from the room Harry – or should he refer to himself as Kyle now? – had woken up in startled him out of his disjointed thoughts and Harry quickly opened the bathroom door and stepped into the other room, wand at the ready searching for the danger.

What he met was most definitely _not_ what he had been expecting. Standing by his bed was a dark haired woman with a heart shaped face, a tray of potions (no doubt foul tasting ones at that) balanced on one hand, wand at the ready in the other. She reminded Harry of somebody but he wasn't sure who. It was as if he had met her somewhere, a long time ago, but he couldn't be sure. The woman looked up and the surprise was evident on her face when she saw Harry standing in the doorway.

"Oh, _there _are, sir!" She said this as if she had solved a great mystery. The woman put the tray of foul looking potions on the bedside table and bustled over to Harry, taking him by the arm and leading him back to the bed. "Back into bed, dear." She had a kind, motherly voice with a hint of authority, as if she wouldn't take no for an answer. She rather reminded Harry of Madame Pomfrey; when she wasn't berating Harry for ending up in the Hospital Wing and at her tender mercies in the first place.

"Goodness, we didn't expect to see you up and about for a while yet, dear," she remarked. She sounded astonished really, Harry found it rather funny. He did normally tend to do things at his own schedule rather than the pre-existing ones. As soon as he was tucked back into the bed, the woman turned business like and began casting diagnostic spells on him. Or what Harry thought were diagnostic spells at least. He thought he might have recognised one or two from what Madame Pomfrey would cast on him. He had spent so much time in the Hospital Wing that he should have something to show for it. Although, to be fair, most of that time was spent unconscious.

"Umm ma'am," Harry thought that it was best not to distract the woman while she was casting on him so he waited until it looked as if she had finished. "Err, not to sound rude but who are you and where am I?" Best to find those facts out first then he would figure out his whole Harry turned Kyle problem. That sounded _so_ fucked up.

"Oh of course, I should have introduced myself sooner," she smiled, reassuring him no offence was taken at his rather abrupt questions, "I'm Healer Alice Longbottom, but feel free to call me Alice. You're currently in St. Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries, dear. I assume you know where that is?" Alice Longbottom as in _Neville's _mother? Well it had to be! He knew of no other Alice Longbottoms. And besides, there was no denying the relationship between herself and Neville now that Harry had heard the name.

But wait, Neville's parents were supposed to be in the secure ward weren't they? They were supposed to have been cursed to insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. But… oh, of course… Harry was back in _time_, obviously _before_ that horrible incident had taken place. At least now he could probably spare Neville the future without _his_ parents too. Hell, he could probably spare a lot of kids' lives without their parents.

Harry glanced up to see that Alice was looking at him worriedly. Oh, she must have been talking to him while he had gone off to La La Land. "I'm sorry, Healer." Harry said sheepishly. "But could you repeat that, I just sort of zoned out there if you know what I mean."

"Call me Alice, dear." Alice replied with an understanding smile. "Now, I just need you answer a few questions for your file but before we begin with those I would like to know if you're in pain or not?" When Harry answered negatively, Alice raised a sceptical eyebrow but Harry just matched her with an eyebrow of his own. A silent challenge. "If you're sure then." Alice picked up a clipboard off the tray that she had carried in with her. "Well, first question then; what's your name?"

Harry took a deep breath and thought for a split second. This was it, decision making time. Deciding to go with his gut, as it had seldom led him wrong, Harry opened his mouth and answered, "Kyle Potter.

To Harry's – no Kyle's – surprise, Alice gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. She had to ease herself down to sit on the edge of Kyle's bed. Kyle reached out to steady the woman; she looked as if she had seen a ghost. "Alice? Are you okay?" Truthfully the woman didn't look as if she was okay; her face was as white as the wall behind her.

Alice stared at Kyle with unblinking eyes. "Are you really him?" Her voice was shaky when she spoke. "Are you really Kyle? James' son?" She made a reaching movement, as if she was going to grasp his hand in hers.

Kyle looked at her steadily, looking for _something_ in her eyes; he wasn't sure what it was until he found it. It had been so long since he had seen _sincerity_ in somebody's eyes when they asked him a question. He chose his words carefully when he answered though. "My mother…" He faltered, as a surge of grief that was so strong that Kyle had to close his eyes and breathe deeply for a few seconds nearly overcame him, much to his surprise. "My mother told me that my father's name was James Potter before she died if that is who you're referring to?" The memory of that night was fresh in his mind after watching the scene as a third party and also as living through it. It was strange; the new memories were just _there_, just like his memories of living as Harry Potter. Only, he wasn't Harry Potter anymore. But, he would deal with that later.

Alice had gasped again and her eyes had begun to fill with tears. Kyle was surprised at the strength of the reaction; he had no recollection of meeting the woman at all before his mother had died and certainly not after that. "You really are James' son? But… after we found your mother… we couldn't find your body… we just assumed… James thought that his firstborn had died…"

The woman was rambling but Kyle let her, using the time to sort out his own emotions; his grief at losing his mother when he was six and his grief at never knowing his father in this life. It was strange that that grief was just as strong as the grief he felt for his mother, obviously Kyle had never managed to deal with it as well as Harry had. "Did you know my father ma'am?"

Alice visibly pulled herself together when she heard the question. She looked at Kyle with such warmth, it was a look that Kyle had usually seen his mother look at him with, or other parents look at their children with. It was… nice. "Yes, I did." She finally answered. "We were friends at Hogwarts, and after. He was my son's Godfather." Now that was a fact that Kyle had never known. He wondered idly if Neville had ever known that back in his own time.

"How about I tell you about your father later, dear?" Alice surprised Kyle with the question. He smiled and inclined his head in thanks and Alice smiled back at him. She was suddenly business like again as if the last fifteen minutes had never happened. She recorded his date of birth and when asked if he remembered what had happened to him, Kyle answered with the memories that seemed to pop into his head. He told Alice that he and his guardians, who he wasn't even remotely fond of nor them of him, were moving back to Britain and they had been travelling in Muggle London when they had been in a car accident and he had told her that that was all he remembered. Which was true.

The only fact that Kyle omitted was that the story was just one of the two versions of the truth that he could have told her. The other being that he had illegally used a Time-Turner that he had literally stolen from The Department of Mysteries when he had broken in with a group of his friends, which included her son and then somehow merged into Kyle Potter's body and sort of became him after he died. That would have gone over _so _well.

"Yes, that's what happened dear." Alice wrote something down on her clipboard and then handed Kyle a disgusting looking potion from her tray but not feeling like arguing as he had already recognised the potion as a Pepper-Up – why was she giving him a Pepper-Up when she had already told him that he should have been resting? – Kyle just downed the potion, just about managing to avoid shivering as the steam came out of his ears. "The Aurors sensed the use of underage magic, which had probably been you accidently Apparating yourself out of the car so they went to investigate the scene. Anyway you'd already been brought to a Muggle hospital by the time the Aurors arrived. Anyhow you were transferred directly here to St. Mungo's once they found you and realised what had happened, I am sorry to say, dear, that your companions did not make it. They died on impact."

Healer Alice continued, "The Aurors will want to question you of course."

"Wait," Kyle was confused. "If I Apparated out of the car then why would the Aurors want to question me? I mean, my life was in danger, they're not seriously going to press charges are they?"

Alice laughed, to Kyle's surprised. "Don't be silly, dear. It's just that Apparating in any situation before your seventeen is really hard to accomplish, it takes a person with great amount of power to accomplish a feat like that. Rumour is there are a couple of Unspeakables with them too. They're really quite curious as to how you managed it. Even tried to search through your belongings; looking for clues as to who you were they said, can you believe the nerve of them though?"

Kyle's heart skipped a beat. If the Aurors searched his belongings they were almost certain to find the Time-Turner (if that was where the thing was now), and the Unspeakables were sure to recognise it for what it was. If that had happened then all his plans were ruined.

"Did they?" he croaked nervously.

"Well of course not. I told them off right proper I did. Honestly, you're lying here unconscious and there they were more concerned with snooping at your things. Well I told them they had absolutely no right and should be ashamed of themselves. Your things are safe and sound in my office now dear, not to worry."

He sighed in relief and threw her a thankful look. Before he had time to dwell on what might have happened had Alice not interfered, a far more important question occurred to him.

"Hedwig," he asked anxiously, "What happened to Hedwig."

"Hedwig?" she asked confused.

"My owl. She's a snowy white owl and she was with me when – well when the car crashed."

"Oh the little lady. Not to worry dear, your owl is just fine. Curious thing though. Now magical exhaustion, that's not exactly your everyday ailment, although it does happen from time to time. But magical overcharge – that's what you had, which is even stranger as you had _used_ your magic to Disapparate from the car – well that's a tad bit rarer still. And then to find not only you but your Hedwig suffering from it! Well was it not for patient confidentiality the Aurors would no doubt have been poking their noses in again, had they known of that particular curiosity."

"So she's alright then?"

"Yes, most certainly. She wasn't nearly as affected as you were. Woke up five days into your stay in a right snit. She's been acting every inch a queen ever since."

"That's my Hedwig," he smiled before a worrying thought occurred to him, "Wait, five day? Just how long have I been unconscious?"

"Today would make it an even two weeks," she informed him and then had to stop his leaping out of bed.

"You don't understand, there's something I have to do and I have a limited time to do it. It's really very important."

"Kyle Potter," she said suddenly, quite stern, "you will desist with this behaviour immediately! If it has waited two weeks then it can certainly wait another few hours."

Properly cowed, but still glaring at Alice, he immediately sat back in bed. She gave him a satisfied nod before smiling gently and tucking his blankets back in around him, and he was left wondering how anyone could be such a perfect mix of Molly Weasley's motherliness and Madam Pomfrey's strictness all at once.

"I don't really have to talk to the Aurors do I?" Kyle asked, nervously running a hand through his wild hair. "It's just that I don't really want them to know who I am, what with my little brother being the Boy-Who-Lived and all. All I'll see for ages is reporters asking for interviews and news about the Boy-Hero having an older brother."

Alice looked quite sad at the thought of Little Harry in Kyle's opinion. "Well, I'm obligated by law to inform the Aurors that you're awake and they _will _come here to interview you before you manage to leave the hospital."

Harry rubbed at his eyes in frustration. If he had to talk to Aurors then he would probably let something vital slip and then everything would be ruined. Things were going badly enough as it was. Alice gave him a long look before coming to a decision.

"Well not to worry," she chirped cheerily, much to his confusion.

"Not to worry? You don't understand. They can't know; it would ruin everything."

"Yes but you see there's a little matter of patient confidentiality. And a wonderfully useful thing it is too."

"Patient confidentiality?" Kyle deadpanned, wondering where on Earth Alice was going with this.

"Exactly. And the Wizarding laws in regards to it are rather sketchy you see. They're not very clear. So if I, as your lawfully appointed Healer, were to decide that something – let's say your name, just for examples sake – were to be confidential, then there's really nothing they could do about it. In fact, as they've yet to get a very good look at you, I might even be inclined to decide that your entire identity falls under patient confidentiality." She smiled triumphantly at him as he was left gaping in surprise.

"Do close your mouth dear, you look like a fish," she chided and he did so with a snap.

"Why are you doing this? Not that I don't appreciate it," he added hurriedly, this was like the Holy Grail falling into his lap; it was too good a solution to be true. Surely! "Because I do! I _really_ do. It's just that it seems to be asking rather a lot on your part."

"The answer is really quite simple. You seem a trustworthy sort."

"I seem 'a trustworthy sort,'" disbelief obvious in his voice, "Despite the fact that you've never met me before in your life. No offence but how in Merlin's name did you come to that conclusion?"

"I'm an Empath dear," she raised an eyebrow at his still-confused expression, "Empath's can sense other people; their emotions and such, sometimes even particularly strong thoughts. No need to panic now, I've not been reading your thoughts. My ability is rather limited. I get faint feelings of emotions, no thoughts. I can usually tell whether someone is being truthful or not. Anyhow my most useful ability is to be able to sense whether a person has good intentions and whether they're trustworthy. That's how I know you're a good, trustworthy sort."

"Oh," he said, unsure of what else to say, "Well, thank you."

"Not a problem. Besides they've been awfully annoying, nosing in where they don't belong for the past two weeks. It'll be nice to get them back a bit," she grinned; Kyle wouldn't have guessed that Neville's mother would have been as devious as she was being now. Or maybe it was a little bit of subtle revenge for the Aurors harassing her? Well, whatever her reasons, Kyle was not going to be the one to look a gift horse – or the Holy Grail – in the mouth. "Now how about I draw these curtains so no one will see you and call in our friendly authorities, hmm?"

The interview that followed was rather amusing. Or at the least it was for Kyle and Alice – not so much for the Aurors. Firstly they had to speak to him through a curtain as Alice informed them they were not authorised to see his face. And secondly he answered the barest minimum of questions with Alice informing them that the majority of them fell under 'patient confidentiality'. In the end it was a frustrated group of Aurors who trudged out of the hospital room, leaving a rather pleased and smug (in Alice's case) Healer and patient.

"Can I leave now?" Kyle asked eagerly as their guests left.

"I'm inclined to keep you here overnight," she raised her voice over his objection, "_However_, since you're technically completely fit and I do believe you have urgent business, I'm willing to release you now."

"Thank you!" Straight away, Kyle was up and pulling on his jeans under the wretched hospital gown that he had been dressed in during his stay.

"Not a problem child. Now first I'll need to know if you want me to put your name on the file. Hush now, not to worry. You are now known as G445."

"G445?" Kyle pulled on his shirt and then a hoodie that he had never seen before but that was in his locker, to his surprise he found that all his clothing fit quite snuggly. It was strange to have Muggle clothes that were not falling off him like a shedding snake's skin. Then again, in this life Kyle Potter, while he had lived with relatives that did not particularly like him, they had at least fed him properly, educated him to the best of their abilities – which was a quite high standard he found – and they had provided him with an extensive wardrobe. Kyle was most certainly not going to complain.

"If a patient wishes to remain anonymous that is of course their prerogative," Alice explained, "However we do need some way to keep track of them. Hence the assigned code. Next time you come in you can either do so under your proper name or under your codename alias. And if you decide your secrecy is no longer needed do let us know so that we can merge your files. It really is safer for you that we have access to all your medical information in one place. Just in case of an emergency you understand."

"Of course," he readily agreed.

"Alright then, I'm just off to fetch your belongings. I'll be right back." With that the Healer bustled out of the room leaving Kyle to pull on his socks and shoes. Just as he finished tying the laces there was a _hoot-hoot_ at the window and a weight fell on his shoulder.

"Hedwig," he exclaimed happily, "How's my best girl been?" He cooed at her. The relief that he felt when he saw his faithful friend was indescribable.

She hooted happily and Kyle grinned. Just then Alice knocked on the door and he called her in. She was dragging his trunk behind her and carried a small box under one arm.

"Ah, good. I see your two have found each other. Now, here are your things."

She handed over the trunk and box. He surreptitiously opened the latter and was relieved to see it contained his calculations sheet and his time-turner which had been missing from his jean pockets, though he hadn't really expected to find them in them as he had not being wearing the jeans when he used the Time-Turner. He glanced up to see what Alice thought of it but thankfully she appeared uninterested.

"Thank you," he said.

"Not a problem."

"No I mean – for everything," he expanded and she nodded and smiled.

"You're welcome and you're free to go now. Hopefully I'll not have a need to see you in here again," she said turning to leave.

"I hope so too ma'am." He shot her a grateful smile to convey his thanks.

"One last thing, dear." Kyle turned around at the door and looked at Alice. He was somewhat surprised to see that Alice had tears glistening in her eyes again. She stepped over to him and handed him a sheet of parchment. On it was a Floo address, _'Longbottom Manor.' _Kyle looked up at Alice, the question written across his face clear as day.

"I told you that I would tell you about your father earlier. If you would like to hear about him then feel free to call me." Alice hesitated for a moment and then steeled herself. "I would also like to invite you to dinner this Saturday at around six. My husband, Frank was good friends with your father before he died and he would love to meet you. As would my eight year old son, Neville, he would be your God-brother."

Kyle looked at Alice in shock at the information. Neville was _eight? 'That couldn't have been right.' _If it was then that meant that Voldemort had already Marked Harry and that Harry was now the Boy-Who-Lived. But wait, hadn't he already said that he was the Boy-Who-Lived's brother? He had been going on Kyle's memories which meant that that was the truth. _'What the hell was going on?'_

Alice meanwhile had obviously mistaken Kyle's silence as him searching for a way to decline the invitation politely, without offending her. "It's okay, dear." She was obviously disappointed, even if her words said otherwise. "You don't have to accept. I just thought I would –"

"I would love to accept the invitation." Kyle interrupted her; snapping out of his thoughts that were just leading him round in circles. "Saturday night at six, right? I'll see you then, Alice."

Kyle received a tearful smile in return and with one last goodbye, Kyle Potter left the building.

* * *

The first thing Kyle done, after explaining to Hedwig – of course, how could he do anything without consulting his faithful owl? – that he had errands to do today and that she could meet up with him later, was make his way to The Leaky Cauldron for something to eat. Kyle was famished. He also needed somewhere he could sit down and think so he could plan his next move, and while The Leaky Cauldron was loud, Kyle was sure he could find an empty corner. Kyle took the public Floo at St. Mungo's directly to The Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley. After picking himself up from the dirty floor he glanced around for an empty table. Luckily there was one in the corner, out of the way of the main pub but somewhere that Kyle could observe both exits.

The pub was mostly as he remembered it, Kyle mused after Tom had taken and then delivered his order, old fashioned and rundown looking, with a fine layer of the ever present dust still lingering in the air. He wondered for a moment that the atmosphere of the pub seemed so calm and serene. He had expected there to be a much tenser atmosphere but then he remembered that this was not his time; the incompetent Ministry had not just announced the return of Voldemort. It was not a time of war; it was the seventh year of peace in the Wizarding world since the last war.

He did not have long to dwell on that thought however as time was running short. Obviously Kyle had to change his plans, he had landed in the wrong time, his calculations had been off but he wasn't sure that he should use the Time-Turner again. He didn't like using it a second time when he knew that it wasn't as reliable as he had first thought.

When he had first arrived in the past Kyle had intended on making his way to Hogwarts to see Dumbledore immediately so he could warn him about Peter Pettigrew. It seemed however that such a course of action was not to be. According to his new memories, and what Alice had told him then the date would roughly be the sixth of February, 1992.

Kyle had supposed to arrive on thirtieth of September, 1980. Now, if he had arrived a few months early, that would not have been such a terrible problem. An inconvenience perhaps, but nothing a little waiting could not have overcome. But he was almost seven years too late. And to add to that, the whole timescale was whack. Alice had said that Neville was eight. Neville was the same age as Harry, only one day older. For Neville to be eight now meant that Harry was eight now. For Harry to be eight now meant that he would have only been born in 1984.

Kyle didn't really want to make another trip. Who knew what would happen? He could end up taking residence in another dead body; Kyle was now sure that he had been dead before Harry had been merged into the body. So there was no point in going back another seven years as that could end in an even bigger disaster.

"There's no way my calculations could have been so far off," he told himself in frustration, "A few days, or weeks or heck, even months might have been possible. But I'm off by years. It just doesn't make any sense."

Kyle finished his lunch off quickly and stood up and left The Leaky Cauldron after dropping a couple of Galleons he had in his pocket to cover the cost. His boots crunched satisfyingly on the snow covered ground in the courtyard by the entrance to Diagon Alley. His angry footsteps helped ebb away some of his frustrations as his mind considered the situation.

He wanted to just ignore that the facts weren't adding up and try another trip anyway, but he _didn't _want to do that at the same time due to the huge risks that he now knew were involved. Argh! It was just _so confusing! Just what was he supposed to _do!

His footsteps had by this stage led him out of the village and down the Alley toward Flourish and Blotts of all places. Shoving his cold hands into his pockets as he made his way to the store, he tried to figure out where to go from here.

_"What am I supposed to do?" _Kyle thought to himself._ "Mum and Dad are already dead, Sirius is imprisoned and I'd be seven years old and living with the Dursleys by now."_

As he considered those facts the answer became blindingly obvious. Stopping in the middle of the Alley, Kyle turned and changed direction. There was nothing that he could do for his parents. And though he'd be lying if he said he wasn't horribly disappointed, he realized there were other ways he could improve things.

For one he was not going to just leave Sirius to rot in Azkaban any longer than necessary. The thought of not doing anything about that situation made him physically ill. And secondly, there was no way he was going the leave a seven year old child with the Dursleys. He remembered well the hell that was his childhood and would never wish it on anyone else – even if that anyone else was technically he himself.

Luckily there was a simple way to accomplish both goals. Peter Pettigrew. The traitor should be living with the Weasleys by now. Ron wouldn't have received him yet so he should still be disguised as Percy's pet rat. All he needed to do was catch Pettigrew and take him into the Ministry. When the traitor was questioned Sirius's innocence would be revealed. He had no doubt that his Godfather would then offer to adopt young Harry who would eagerly accept.

It was a simple yet effective plan. It was sure to work.

* * *

It was a complicated and ineffective plan. It didn't work. At all.

Oh sure, it had seemed like a good idea to start with, but lately his plans seemed to not work out the way he wanted them to. At all.

First he had taken the Knight Bus to Ottery St. Catchpole. When he had arrived at the little village he snuck down an alleyway where he retrieved his Invisibility Cloak from his self-shrinking trunk which he then proceeded to re-miniaturise. Under the Cloak he had made the five minute trip from the village to the familiar Weasley home, known as The Burrow.

At first it had seemed luck was on his side. All the children were out in the backyard. His attention was immediately drawn to a young Ron, looking happy and _whole_. He felt tears come to his eyes at the sight and had to take a moment to get control of himself again and focus on the task at hand. He looked around again at the other children, his attention stopping on one Percy Weasley. Kyle was surprised to see that Percy was still just four years older than Ron. He had thought that there would have been eight years older. Then a teenaged Bill Weasley came out and started roughhousing with the twins.

It was strange, Kyle thought, it was as if time had been put on hold for four years and then started up again. Where he had been born in 1980 in his own time, here – he still hadn't figured where here was out yet – Harry hadn't been born until 1984 and so Voldemort hadn't been defeated until 1985.

Kyle turned his attention back to Percy; or more specifically, the pet rat being held in the boy's small hands. The very pet rat he had come looking for. Or so he had thought.

As he snuck up to the boy considering just how he would get the rat from him, he soon became frustrated and impatient. His emotions translated into a show of accidental magic, summoning the rat to him.

As the rodent came sailing towards him, first Percy and then the other Weasley children squealed in surprise. His own attention however was fixed on the rat. A strangely unfamiliar rat. A rat with all fingers and toes accounted for. He stared at the perfectly normal rodent which had fallen to the ground before him long enough for young Percy to race up and retrieve his pet. Harry barely paid him or the other chattering children any mind. He was confused. There was no way that rat was the traitor. And if a perfectly common magical rat was living at the Weasley's…

"Then where in Merlin's name is Pettigrew?" he finished aloud.

In a distinctly Hermione-ish moment he realised what needed to be done. Research.

* * *

Since he did not have access to Hogwarts' extensive library, Kyle decided to simply buy the books he would need, since he recalled that he had some leftover galleons in his money sack. And he had also brought the gold from all the Potter Vaults with him as well, though he didn't want to open his trunk without any privacy, best leave that till later then.

While buying the books was a good idea in theory, in practice it was not quite so simple. After Flooing to the Leaky Cauldron in Diagon Alley – and once again having to pick himself up off the floor afterwards – he quickly headed towards Flourish and Blotts. Once there he spent a good hour searching for possibly helpful texts before it occurred to him to actually ask for assistance.

As it turned out books on time where not exactly the most common of reading and the few that the store possessed weren't what he was looking for. He was by this stage becoming rather short with the clerk and about to give up in frustration when the fellow made a comment.

"You seem pretty desperate to find out whatever it is you're looking to find out. Honestly, I don't know why you don't just go to the Library," the man said to him.

"The library? What library?" he asked and the man seemed confused at his confusion.

"Well, _The_ Library of course," then a thought seemed to occur to him, "Oh! You're Muggle-Born aren't you?"

"Er, well sort of yes," Kyle admitted, "But what's that got to do with anything?"

"Well it explains why you've not heard of it. The Library's common knowledge to most Wizarding folk," the man tsk'd, "They really ought to fill the Muggle-Borns in on these sorts of thing when they get to Hogwarts."

"I agree," Kyle responded – partly because he did, and partly because the man looked set to launch into some rather extensive complaining, and Kyle was feeling impatient to find out how to get to this fabled library, "So where exactly is it?"

"Don't worry lad, it's easy enough to get to. The destination is 'The British Library, Wizarding section'. You can just Floo right on in."

After thanking the man he went back to The Leaky Cauldron and stepped into the green flames.

"The British Library, Wizarding section," he spoke clearly and was whisked away.

Stumbling, but managing to keep on both feet, Kyle wondered to himself if he was finally getting the hang of this Floo thing. Then he looked up at his surroundings. He was thoroughly impressed. This had to be one of the biggest and most luxurious libraries he'd ever seen. Not quite Hogwarts standard in the way of size of course, but still impressive nonetheless.

He immediately began looking around for someone to help him. He soon spotted a woman with a badge reading 'Library Assistant' and headed over towards her. She was looking from the shelves to the scroll of parchment in her hands, her quill scratching away whatever it was she found.

Getting closer, Kyle managed to get a good look at her. With her elaborately set greying blonde curls, high heeled boots, and rather ostentatiously bejewelled spectacles she reminded him disturbingly of an older version of Rita Skeeter. He almost turned around then and there before deciding that he really didn't want to spend another useless hour searching through books when he could just ask for assistance.

"Excuse me, Ma'am," he said hesitantly.

The woman, looking impatient at being interrupted, raised a questioning eyebrow in his direction.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but I was wondering if you had any good books on time-travel?"

Without a reply she turned on her heel and walked swiftly towards a bookshelf on the other side of the room. Her heels clacked loudly on the tiled floor as Harry struggled to keep up. When they reached the bookshelf the woman's finger's began dancing over the spines of the books until with an "Aha!" she pulled out the book she'd been looking for.

"Here," she said, handing him the huge book, "_Time-Travel Troubles and Trip-Ups_ by Viator Tempus. You'll find this to be the most thorough writing on the subject of time-travel. Now, if you'll excuse me."

Then without another word she turned away and clacked back to her desk before he could even offer a 'thank you'.

The heavy book was set down at a nearby table with a rather loud 'bang'. Wincing at the noise and the glares from the surrounding witches and wizards he quickly sat down. Kyle immediately opened the book and began scanning for anything that could explain the obvious inconsistencies from this past to what it should have been. Turning to a random page near the beginning his attention was immediately caught and he began to read.

'…_Truly changing time is impossible._

_When one travels back in time anything they do will have already happened. If it hadn't then in changing it they would remember a past that had never truly happened, which is not possible. Besides that fact, if they could actually change something then their past self would have had no reason to change it in the first place and thusly they never would have time-travelled to begin with…'_

As he considered this he became even more confused. Did this mean he was supposed to go back in time all along? But if that was so then it meant that he wouldn't be able to make any changes to the timeline because the past he remembered was already set. Sirius couldn't be released from prison and he couldn't be rescued from the Dursleys.

"No," he told himself quietly but firmly, "I refuse to believe that. There has to be a way to change it all. And besides, none of this explains why Wormtail isn't where he's supposed to be."

So he kept reading, determined to figure this situation out. Had he perhaps inadvertently changed something somehow by travelling so far back? But no, that didn't make any sense. Frustrated, he tapped his fingers loudly on the table as he kept reading, then ignored the glares and "Shh"s as the information on the page began looking promising.

'…_It is theorised that should one somehow manage to cheat this rule and attempt to travel to a time when their future self had not already done so, the universe would intervene to prevent a paradox._

"_It is most commonly believed that this would happen by the traveller being shunted sideways. And so whilst they would indeed travel to the desired destination in relation to time, they would also find themselves in an alternate dimension._

"_For further information on alternate dimensions, this author humbly suggests the further reading of his highly lauded text,__**The Theories of Trans-Dimension Travel**__…'_

Frozen in shock Kyle sat staring at the page for several minutes before it sank in. He'd landed himself in an Alternate Universe. Oh God! He'd royally fucked up this time! Literally!

* * *

After the shock over the fact that he was actually in an Alternate Universe had worn off – as much as such a shock could wear off – Kyle quickly set to further research. He was able to find the relevant books well enough on his own by searching the history section and the Daily Prophet archives. Settling back at his desk with the additional texts he soon immersed himself in his study of the history of this world. He wanted to see if there were any obvious changes, and was devastated by what he found

For the most part this world's timeline seemed to run parallel to his own; except of course that four year stand-still. The histories began to diverge however, sometime around the war against Voldemort.

Much like in his home dimension, Sirius was arrested on November 1, just after Halloween of 1984. Charged for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve Muggles, he received no trial like in Harry's dimension. The difference however was that instead of being sent to Azkaban he was given the Kiss.

Overconfident with Sirius's destruction, Pettigrew grew lax and was spotted several months later and apprehended on January 1, 1986. After being subjected to Veritaserum the rat revealed all. The public had of course been as horrified to discover that an innocent man had suffered such a fate as the Dementor's kiss.

The next obvious difference was with Barty Crouch Sr. Harry recalled that in his dimension Crouch had dropped in popularity when his son own son was revealed as a Death Eater. The whole fiasco destroyed any chance he had of reaching the position of Minister of Magic. Whilst the same was true in this new dimension, here he also had the addition of Sirius's unjust death blamed upon him. In the end the man was put to trial and sentenced to Azkaban after investigation uncovered he was also responsible for the unethical treatment of captured and untried prisoners; which Kyle was fairly sure was merely a euphemism for torture.

He continued searching out any differences and in particularly looked for any information on Remus, wanting to know what happened to the last Marauder in this dimension. There was little on him it turned out, other than a rather moving Prophet photograph of him at the funeral of Lily and James. There was also a mention of the werewolf in an article about Sirius's innocence. It said that Remus had not been seen since the news was revealed and was believed to have fled the Wizarding world; not that anybody could blame him after what had happened, Kyle just wondered why he hadn't tried for custody of baby Harry.

By this stage he had begun wondering if perhaps this world was even worse than the one he came from, when he came across another difference; the Longbottoms. The Longbottoms of this dimension were subjected to torture the same as in his history; however the results were rather different. This he knew already as he had spoken to Alice just that morning, but it seemed here that Frank Longbottom had recovered from the ordeal after roughly two months and had returned to work as an Auror. He continued reading and came across something he had been wondering about since that morning. In Kyle's world, Alice Longbottom had been an Auror, in this one she was a Healer. After reading the end of the article about Frank going back to work it answered Kyle's unasked question by mentioning that Alice Longbottom had changed her profession from Auror to Healer due to the 'dangerous risks that came with the job.' Apparently she hadn't wanted to risk anything happening to her _and_ Frank as then Neville would be left on his own. Kyle agreed with her decision whole-heartedly.

Under normal circumstances Kyle's heart would have soared at the thought of the shy, but courageous Neville Longbottom being able to grow up with his parents. At the moment however, he took in all these revelations feeling only numb. He was still stuck on the fact that the Sirius here was dead and too late to be saved. Technically the man he was reading about had never been _his_ Sirius. His Sirius had died in the Department of Mysteries at the end of last term and he wouldn't be coming back – despite all Harry's best efforts otherwise. He knew this, but dammit it still _hurt._

Turning away from the other readers around him, lest they should look up and notice the tears falling down his face, Kyle quietly allowed himself finish mourning for his godfather – the knowledge finally sinking in that he was truly gone and could not be saved. After a time he gave a sad sigh and wiped his eyes. He found solace in the fact that he might still have a chance to save Remus. The man mightn't be _his _surrogate father but he was still fundamentally _Remus._ Subtly looking around Kyle was relieved that no one had noticed his quiet breakdown and he contemplated what to do next.

The fact of the matter was that he was stuck in another dimension with no idea of how to go home. He could always reset the Time-Turner and try anyway but who knows what dimension he would end up in. He could very well end up in a world with Voldemort as Minister of Magic. In comparison this world really wasn't all that bad. If a way to go back home became available to him then of course he would take it. Or would he really? He had nobody back in his home dimension. His parents, Sirius and Remus were dead. Ron and Hermione might as well be and the Weasley family had shunned him. So what had he really to go back to? But even if he had wanted to, the way things stood at the moment he was stranded here. So the question was what to do while he was here?

Kyle had had had three original goals in travelling to the past – or what he had assumed to be the past. Firstly, save his parents from Voldemort by warning them of Pettigrew. He had arrived too late to prevent that, even in this dimension. Second, save Sirius from Azkaban. But Sirius was long dead here, or as good as dead. Thirdly and lastly, save the younger Harry Potter from a life with the Dursleys. He'd already partially failed there. This dimension's Harry Potter had already spent seven years in that hell. Additionally his plan to get him out had all revolved around Sirius being freed and able to take custody.

He pondered that for a time wondering how else he could get Harry out of the Dursleys apart from the obvious but undoubtedly unwise path of kidnapping. No ideas came immediately to mind so he instead decided to turn his mind to himself. He needed to figure out what to do with himself. Luckily the only good thing – which was one of the weirdest things – was that he didn't need to assume a false identity to avoid detection as he was already Kyle Potter, older brother of Harry Potter.

"Actually," he murmured quietly to himself, "If I'm Little Harry's older brother then shouldn't _I _be the one who inherits the Potter Estate? I should probably check that out." Kyle knew that he already had the money from his old dimension so he could just live off that and not take Little Harry's inheritance but he had read somewhere before that a child could assume a Lordship of an Estate as young as eleven so long as he was the next in line for it. The Potter Estate came with a Lordship and Kyle was to be sixteen this coming July. If Kyle were to assume this Lordship then he would be emancipated and he could legally take custody of Harry. He would make Harry his heir and he would make sure that he didn't squander the money so it would still be there for Harry. Although... wait, even_ if_ Harry was the one who was supposed to inherit the Estate, the mere fact that Kyle existed in the first place meant that he couldn't. Suddenly Kyle felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders; he wouldn't be stealing Harry's title and inheritance as it was his in the first place! Well, he hoped that it was.

Either way he knew what needed to be done. Research. With a quiet groan he massaged his temples. Research really was more Hermione's thing; all of this reading was giving him a headache. Nevertheless, it really did need to be done, so he lifted his head out of his hands with a sigh and wandered around searching for any books on Wizarding Law about Lordships and emancipation.

As it turned out the Wizarding Law section was easily found as it was one of the largest in the library. He really shouldn't have been surprised. With how obsessive Pure-Bloods were over bloodlines and hence their Lordships it only made sense that the Wizarding World would keep meticulous records of such things.

The texts were conveniently arranged – alphabetically and subcategorized – so the law books on what Kyle was looking for were easy enough to find. Selecting the largest book, thinking it would be the most thorough, he lugged it back to his desk. It had obviously been unread for some time as it let out a cloud of dust as it thudded loudly onto the table. Kyle broke into a sneezing fit and by the time he regained control of his nose more than a few people were giving him severe glares and scathing looks. Cringing he sat down and carefully opened the ancient book to the first pages.

He found himself quite excited about this whole thing; this could be the key to saving himself – or rather Little Harry – from the Dursleys. That in turn would mean that he Kyle would have somebody to call family. Kyle had always wanted a little brother and if he could figure this out properly then his wish would probably come true sooner rather than never.

An hour later and Kyle left the library with a bright grin stretched across his face. He had been surprised to find that the laws were written in Legalese but that he could understand them. It seemed that he had been correct earlier when he had thought that Kyle Potter was the male version of Hermione. He had found the laws he'd needed and luckily they were exactly the same as they had been in his home dimension. Now all Kyle had to do was go to Gringotts and claim his Lordship, deposit his gold so it could begin earning interest and acquire guardianship papers for the Dursleys to sign.

But before he could do that though, Kyle had to find somewhere to sleep for the night. He had been quite shocked to see how dark it had been when he had left the library. So, with that thought and thoughts of what tomorrow would bring for both him and Harry, Kyle made his way to The Leaky Cauldron in search of a place to lay his head for the night.

**_Please Review!_**


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. JKR does. Adopted from Nia River. Only own original ideas.

**Chapter 3**

_**- Fri, 7/2/1992 - **_

The next day found Kyle up bright and early, though not of his own accord. Due to his stress induced fatigue the night before, he had forgotten to open the window for Hedwig, and so he was awoken the next morning to her angrily pecking at the glass pane. He'd had to spend a good half hour trying to placate his feathered companion and apologising most profusely before he was able to slip downstairs and order a quick breakfast from Tom.

The night before, Tom had been surprised when he'd seen the name that Kyle had signed on the guest register. Kyle wasn't surprised; it seemed that _nobody _(well except for the Longbottoms at the moment) knew about James Potter's illegitimate first born son. Tom had however promised his silence as he knew that if he were to reveal that there was a second Potter heir around then he would put Kyle in a difficult position. The name Potter was only associated with the Boy-Who-Lived right now as he was believed to be the last remaining heir of the Potter line.

All in all it was an hour after his waking before Kyle found himself ascending the steps to Gringotts, the Wizarding bank. Nodding politely to the goblins guarding the door, who merely sneered back at him suspiciously, he made his way into the resplendent hall and over to the nearest available teller. The teller raised an annoyed eyebrow at him and tapped his fingers on the desk in an impatient manner, leaving Kyle to wonder – not for the first time – if goblins had never heard of the concept of good customer service. Shaking the though aside, he got down to business.

"Good morning, sir. May your vaults overrun with gold." Kyle spoke quietly so only the goblin would be able to hear him; he didn't want his business broadcasted all about the bank after all. Ignoring the surprised face of the goblin, Kyle continued. "I would like to speak to an Account Manager if that would be agreeable. I am here to investigate my possible claims on my heritage." He passed a slip of parchment that he'd written his name on to the goblin. No matter how quiet he could speak; Kyle didn't want the risk of anybody overhearing his name before he claimed his Lordship. He didn't think that anybody could stop him but he felt that it was best to err on the side of caution; Harry's future depended on this just as much as his own did.

With a subtle twitch the goblin's eyebrow now seemed to indicate disbelief. Harry had but a moment to reluctantly admire the rather unique ability to convey so much expression with that singular body part before the creature replied. He would actually have to practice that. A well placed raised eyebrow could cause most grown wizards to squirm. It was quite funny actually, what one little body part could accomplish.

"Very well," the goblin spoke and beckoned another goblin over to where Kyle was standing. "Grux, please take him," he jerked his thumb at Kyle, "to see Elder Tekx immediately."

The stout creature bowed to his superior behind the counter and then indicated for Kyle to follow him. They made their way through a number of corridors taking many twists and turns. Just when Kyle was beginning to suspect his guide might be lost, they stopped before a door with a brass plaque reading 'Inheritance and Wills Office.' A quick knock on the door and Kyle was being ushered inside. An elderly goblin sat behind a large oak desk inside, and he looked up curiously as they entered.

"Grux, what is it?" he asked, getting right to the point. Without a word the goblin, Grux, handed Elder Tekx – or at least that was who Kyle assumed was sitting behind the desk – the piece of parchment that the goblin teller had handed him. "Grux, leave." Grux did so with nary a complaint.

"Please sit, Mr Potter." Elder Tekx stood and retrieved a stone basin from the shelf behind him and placed it in the middle of the desk before he sat down again. Kyle glanced into the basin and saw a goblin-made dagger residing inside. He looked up at the elderly goblin; confusion written clearly across his face. "Pick up the dagger Mr Potter, prick your finger and allow three drops of your blood into the basin." When Kyle didn't move to take the dagger the goblin sighed and continued to explain. "This will either verify or refute your claim on who you are. If you are the next in line for the Lordship of the Potter Estate then the Family Ring shall appear in the basin. If you're not then we shall have nothing left to discuss and you shall be escorted back to the lobby."

After weighing up his options; Kyle quickly grabbed the knife, pricked his finger and squeezed out the three drops of blood into the basin as he had been requested. The runes circulating the stone basin shimmered gold for a moment before a ring appeared in the centre. Raising his eyes Kyle saw that Elder Tekx looked pleased and dare he say it a little bit smug. "Now," he said. His voice was quite gruff. "For the final test; The Ring."

Kyle wasn't sure whether he really wanted to put on this ring due to the disturbing grins that had spread across the old goblins face. It was truly sadistic in nature. A shiver ran down his spine when he contemplated what would happen if the ring rejected him. No, best not think about that.

The Potter Family was an old and wealthy one. Apart from a very healthy amount of accumulated gold they also owned a number of other assets including, but not limited to, a great many properties, as well as stocks in both Wizarding and Muggle businesses. Due to the extent of the Potter fortune – which was probably equal if not greater than the Malfoy fortune as it had just been accumulating interest in the last eight years and not being used to grease politicians palms – the title of Lord Potter was highly protected. By the Ring.

During his research, both in this dimension and his home dimension, Kyle had learned that it was the Family Ring that decided who the next Lord was going to be. Even if it was decided who was to be the next Lord in a Last Will in Testament, if the Ring found that person unworthy of the title then it would make its displeasure known. It was quite strange actually, the fact that wizards had semi-sentient Family Rings, but, then again, what could Kyle do about that?

Taking a deep breath, Kyle reached into the basin and extracted the Ring. He frowned curiously as his fingers made contact and he felt a tingle of magic within the golden band. Deciding it must have something to do with the claiming of the Lordship he shrugged aside any unease he felt, remembering that this was his best chance of helping the young Harry Potter. The Ring itself was cast of gold with a large, flat, sapphire stone in the centre into which was engraved with what Kyle assumed to be the Potter crest.

"I just put it on then?" he asked, glancing up, "Does it matter which finger?"

"Just put it on whichever finger you prefer," the elderly goblin confirmed.

The second he slipped the ring onto his right ring finger he realised he should have given the action a bit more thought. A bright light flared in the room. Kyle tried to shield his eyes but it was useless as the light seemed to becoming from within himself. The band became progressively hotter and hotter, burning his finger. Then the heat felt as though it was moving. Two paths of fire journeyed under his skin, travelling up his hand and arm, then across his shoulder. From there one burned downwards and towards his heart and the other into his skull. He wondered briefly how he was still conscious, until he was distracted by even greater pain exploding in his head and chest. It felt as though a presence – an infinitely powerful presence – was rummaging through his mind, riffling through memories in a seemingly random but brutally determined manner, whilst at the same time his heart burned hotter and hotter. Then, just as he was sure he could stand no more – it stopped.

It simply stopped.

He lay for a moment panting on the floor with his head lolling to the side, not knowing where he was and without the strength to try and remember. At a shuffling sound his eyes opened and he found himself staring at a small pair of shiny shoes with long, pointed toes. Following the shoes up past a pair of short, pressed, black trousers and a small, black waistcoat he found himself looking into a vaguely familiar, wrinkled face. It took a moment before a name came to him.

"Elder Tekx!" He exclaimed as everything came back to him, then winced and put a hand to his throbbing head, "What in Merlin's name happened?"

"Not to worry, everything went exactly as it should," Tekx replied as if this was an everyday occurrence. "The ring was merely testing your claim in both blood and intentions."

Kyle merely nodded. He was still in no fit state to pull himself up off the floor so he just stayed there. He was recalling vividly the two paths of fire, one which lead to his heart – no doubt to test for Potter blood – and the other to his head, where his memories were riffled through – a test of intentions. He would have assumed the Ring had searched his mind to ensure he was the true Potter heir. But since he was not, and had passed nonetheless, that could not be the case. Kyle hadn't thought that the Ring would test his intentions. He had thought that it would test the worthiness of his blood. He'd had no idea that the Ring was that sentient.

As he finally dragged himself – groaning – back up and into his chair, he contemplated just what intentions could mean. Perhaps it was to test whether his reasons for claiming the ring were just. That made the most sense. Normally the rightful heir would be the just heir but he supposed in his case, he was claiming the ring mostly in order to protect the one who it truly belonged to. Then another though occurred to him. He raised his pounding head from where it was resting in his palms and looked at the elder goblin who was once again seated behind his desk.

"Wait, Tekx. What would have happened if I failed the test?"

"Well," the Elder Tekx explained. "It varies from case to case but needless to say, the results are – _unpleasant_."

Kyle paled, "Unpleasant?"

"Unpleasant." The sadistic smile had reappeared on the elderly goblin's face once again and Kyle found himself highly thankful that he had been deemed worthy by a Ring.

A sound at the doorway showed that the younger goblin who had escorted Kyle from the lobby had returned.

"Oh, right," Kyle said faintly before another bolt of pain struck, causing him to groan.

"Drink this. It's a pain reliever." He looked up and noticed the vial of blue potion in the younger goblin's outstretched hand. Eagerly Kyle accepted the vial, uncorking it and downing the foul smelling brew as quickly as possible. Almost instantly a tingling spread over him from head to toe, taking the pain away and leaving ease in its wake. He sighed and smiled gratefully at them both.

"Thanks, that's much better."

Seeing that he was indeed recovered, Tekx relaxed back down into his seat and his younger counterpart stood at the side of the grand desk.

"Now, usually a mere teller goblin escort would not be present for a ring claiming," the elder stated and Kyle noticed the younger shift nervously, "However, Grux was filling in today and is also – coincidentally – the current manager of the Potter Fortune."

He looked over at the goblin in question in surprise. Grux however seemed to look even more nervous than before whilst Tekx looked expectant. Unsure of what to say he asked what was wrong.

"Well, although he was appointed to the position by your father – James Potter – you are welcome to change to another," the elderly goblin explained.

He shook his head, "No, that's fine as it is. I trust Gringotts so I trust its employees."

At his statement Grux let out a sigh and relaxed. He realized abruptly that the young goblin had been nervous that he would be dismissed from his position.

"Well, if everything is in order," Elder Tekx said, straightening some parchments as he did so. Kyle thought that he was only doing that to look busy. "You can finish your business in the Potter office."

Kyle stood and nodded to the old goblin and with a word of thanks he left to follow Grux down many more tunnels. As they reached the door however, he turned around suddenly. "Oh, there was one thing I wanted to ask."

"Yes?"

"Will the Ministry know not to count me as an underage wizard?"

"The Ministry tracks underage magic through tracking charms placed on the children's wands at purchasing. When they reach their majority their Head of House or a certified Ministry wizard generally removes the charm for them."

"Damn. How will I arrange that without causing suspicion?"

"You will find, that when you claimed the ring any and all charms where removed from your person, including your clothing and wand."

"Oh, thanks."

And with that the two left. For the second time he was led down a maze of corridors. This time though, he was sure his guide knew where he was going. Eventually they came to a long corridor with a number of doors on either side. He glanced at a few as they passed. Bones, Prewett, Nott, Malfoy, Crouch, and a number of other well-known pure-blood family names. At a cleared throat behind him he turned to find Grux stopped at a door reading 'Potter' a few paces back. He smiled sheepishly and the creature rolled his eyes and opened the door, indicating he enter the room.

The office was similar to the previous one, although the furniture was perhaps a bit better quality and the carpet and other details a little more luxurious. Grux made himself at home behind the desk and Kyle took a seat before it, waiting for the goblin to speak.

"Now," he said imperiously, "This is the office of the Potter family account manager."

"So your office then?" he interrupted and winced at the glare he got for doing so.

"Yes. Now as I was saying, I am oath bound to keep your business private. This office is also warded so that everything said in it is kept confidential unless you say otherwise. Only you would be able to repeat anything heard in here.

"You also need to be aware that if you need assistance in some matter, be it financial, legal or otherwise you can come to me and be assured of privacy. Gringotts does most anything they can to keep their important customers happy."

Kyle was rather sceptical at that and it must have shown on his countenance as the little goblin merely smirked.

"Doesn't mean I have to be polite whilst doing it," he assured him.

"Ah," that did make a lot more sense.

"So, how can I help you?"

"Er," Kyle floundered for a moment before thinking of something, "Well, firstly I suppose I'd like to deposit this into the main vault." Kyle put his shrunken trunk down on the floor, unshrunk it and opened it. Grux peered over his desk to see and was unable to hide the surprise that now adorned his face. He quickly summoned another goblin to empty the trunk and deposit the gold in the vault."

"Secondly," Kyle began again after the second goblin had left with the gold. "I would like to claim custody of my little brother, Harry Potter. Where he's living now is just unacceptable. And thirdly I would like to know just what I've inherited."

"It would be easier to start with your inheritance." Kyle nodded his assent and Grux clambered down from his seat and ambled over to a filing cabinet against the wall behind him. From the depths of a drawer he withdrew a folder bearing the Potter crest and shut the drawer, returning to his chair.

"Now, this is your portfolio. As per their will, all extraneous vaults were closed and merged with the Potter family vault upon the death of Lily and James Potter. Two small trust vaults were also established for one Harry James Potter and one Kyle Ethan Potter to see the two of you through school. I assume you want to leave these open?"

"Yes, definitely," Kyle immediately agreed. While he wasn't sure about leaving his own open, he figured that he could always close it later on. It would be easier to just simply leave it open for now.

"Very well. You also own a number of stocks in various businesses. Are you interested in knowing which businesses, Mr Potter?"

"Not now," he shook his head, "Would it be possible for you to owl me a list of those businesses and all other files related to the Potter Estate, please? I wouldn't even know what to do with the businesses at the moment but I would like to learn all I can about managing the Estate. You'd be able to handle all that stuff until I get a handle on it, right?"

Grux nodded and turned the parchment skimming through the rest of the file, "I can. Now, you also own a number of properties. Apart from the ancestral Potter Manor, there is the well-known home in Godric's Hollow which is currently in ruins, and a small cottage in Hogsmeade. That is of course, excluding the business premises you own."

"Wow." It was very surprising to find out the extent of the Potter Estate.

"Indeed." Grux closed the folder and folded his hands expectantly. "Now shall we move on to the Potter child? I believe you said that you wish to take custody of him."

"Yes," Kyle straightened up in his seat, "Yes I did."

"Well, we'll need to take a look at James and Lily Potter's wills," Grux told him as he replaced the portfolio in the filing cabinet and searched for something else, "If they specifically requested the Dursleys take custody you will have to take your case to the wizard courts."

"Would I win?" he asked worriedly. Kyle highly doubted that his parents would have stated that he be sent to the Dursleys. Lily had grown up with a magic-phobic sister after all. It would be hard to imagine any parent sending their child somewhere they knew that they would be hated for simply being who they were.

"Most certainly. Wizards hold much stock in blood, especially in blood purity. A close magical relative would surely win over a Muggle one. It is however irrelevant," Grux said, still searching the cabinet, "From what I knew of your father and step-mother, I do not think that they would have specified them as guardians if their relationship with the Dursleys was what they led me to believe it to be. Most likely they indicated Mr Black should be granted custody and did not provide alternatives."

"Which is why Dumbledore was able to place my brother with the Dursleys." Kyle summarised.

"Exactly," Grux said before giving an annoyed huff, "Now where is that blasted- Aha!"

The goblin emerged from the cabinet, and victoriously placed a file folder on his desk, retaking his seat. Kyle was about to ask what it was when he found his attention suddenly diverted. Annoyed, he looked back at it and found his attention was being forced away once more. He looked up at Grux to see him gazing sharply at the folder.

"Is it just me, or is that folder-"

"Charmed," Grux finished for him, "Notice-me-not to be precise."

"Why would anyone do that?"

"Well, to my knowledge the Potter Will was never read after their deaths. Gringotts has no record of the Will reading and we were supposed to be a proxy for Albus Dumbledore to be the executor. While Dumbledore should have read the Will, Gringotts should have made sure that all requirements were met and as Dumbledore never contacted Gringotts about setting up a reading well…"

Grux trailed of, the rest being obvious. Kyle felt a sickening lurch in his stomach. No, surely not. But he had suspected something of the sort before, hadn't he? He found himself looking towards the opening of the folder with equal parts eagerness and dread.

"If you'll cast a _Finite_," Grux requested.

Kyle focussed as much as he could on the folder, trying to ignore the urge to look away. "_Finite Incantatem_." He sighed in relief as the urge to look away passed and pocketed his wand. Grux nodded in satisfaction and opened the folder, leaning over the contents, almost sweeping the pages with his long nose, much like he had with the Potter Folder.

"Hmm, a combined will, hmm, oh dear," the goblin was now frowning.

"What is it?" Kyle asked, impatient to know.

"It is as we feared. Here, read."

Kyle took the parchment held out to him, flattening it on the desk before him. Taking a bracing breath, he began to read.

_This is the last will and testament of__James Andrew Potter, and wife, Lily Marie Potter née Evans._

_Both of sound and non-magically altered minds, we do hereby present this as our will, legally binding:_

_Should Lily Potter die first, the entirety of her estate shall be bequeathed to her husband, James Potter._

_Should James Potter die first, the entirety of his estate shall be bequeathed to his wife, Lily Potter._

_Should both James and Lily Potter be deceased upon the reading of this will,__all our vaults excepting our son Harry Potter's and James' Potter's firstborn son, Kyle Ethan Potter's trust vaults shall be merged with the Potter family vault and the following bequeaths shall be made:_

_To Sirius Orion Black, we grant the sum of__500 000 galleons and our property at Godric's Hollow._

_To Remus John Lupin, we grant the sum of 500 000 galleons and our cottage in Hogsmeade._

_To Frank Longbottom and Alice Natalie Longbottom née Smyth, we grant the sum of 500 000 galleons_

_To Peter Aaron Pettigrew, we grant the sum of 500 000 galleons._

_Should any of the aforementioned beneficiaries be deceased__upon the reading of this will, their grants shall be split between Kyle Ethan Potter and Harry James Potter._

_To James' Potter's firstborn son, Kyle Ethan Potter, we grant the Lordship of the Estate._

_To our son, Harry James Potter, we grant him the Heir status to the Estate. If Kyle Ethan Potter is unable to take up the Lordship or is rejected by the Ring then the Lordship shall go to Harry James Potter when he is fifteen._

_If both Lily Potter and James Potter are deceased, guardianship of our son, Harry James Potter is as follows, in order of preference:_

_Sirius Black, good friend and Godfather of Harry Potter._

_Alice Natalie Longbottom née Smyth and Frank Longbottom, good friends, and Godmother and Godmother's husband of Harry Potter._

_Remus John Lupin, good friend (Should laws change to allow)._

_Peter Aaron Pettigrew, good friend._

_If all previously specified guardians are incapable of taking custody, Harry Potter is to be placed with an agreeable, light-oriented, Wizarding family. Under no circumstances is he to go to Vernon Dursley and Petunia Dursley née Evans._

_Signed at Godric's Hollow on August 26, 1984._

_Witnesses:_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore_

_Peter Aaron Pettigrew_

By the time he had finished reading, Kyle was fuming. Cursing, he jumped to his feet and started kicking at the carpet. That not being nearly satisfying enough, he began kicking at his chair. A particularly harsh kick elicited a cracking sound and sent the chair skidding across the room, bringing him back to reality.

Kyle looked from the broken chair to Grux, who had watched the whole display with a blank face. Upon realising he now had his customer's attention, he raised a cool eyebrow. "If you're quite finished with your little temper tantrum?"

That comment almost set him off again but he managed to keep reign of his temper, if barely. How _dare _Dumbledore disregard his parents will? It made him sick to his stomach. "Yes, I'm done," he replied with a much dignity as was possible given the situation.

"And do you make it a habit of destroying things when you are angered?" the goblin asked sarcastically.

"No!" he shouted indignantly before remembering Dumbledore's office and flushing, "Well, not always. Don't look at me like that! The last time it was perfectly justified."

"I'm sure," Grux looked thoroughly unconvinced.

Kyle sighed, defeated, and looked at the pile of wood in the corner. He apologised to Grux and drawing his wand he waved it in the chair's direction. "_Reparo_." He set the now whole chair back in place and resumed his seat. They sat in silence for a long moment before he finally spoke up. "Sorry," he apologised again. It would be best to try not to anger the goblin further.

"Forgiven," the goblin said succinctly, "Now, back to the matter at hand. It seems to me that Dumbledore is in gross violation of a number of laws. Do you wish to press charges?"

Kyle's first reaction was to give an emphatic 'yes'. But then, he stopped to consider the ramifications that would occur if he did and groaned as he came to his decision. "No. As much as I want to I think I'd best not."

"And why is that?" Grux asked neutrally.

"Voldemort," he ignored the flinch the name elicited, "I know for a fact that he'll be back sooner or later. It wasn't as if they found a body at Godric's Hollow so that, to me, means that he's still out there and as much as I hate Dumbledore right now he _is_ the only one the Dark Lord has ever feared. Having him at the school makes it safer for the children there. They wouldn't be nearly as safe if the old man was in Azkaban. And besides, I want to remain unknown for as long as I can; at least until I have Harry and there is no chance that he can be taken off me."

"A wise decision," he was pleasantly surprised by the compliment before the goblin continued, "Especially from you." Kyle sighed in resignation, deciding to take what small victories he could where his sarcastic account manager was concerned. Although, to be fair, he kind of liked the banter… a little. "This could work to our advantage anyway," the goblin stated

"How?"

"To get custody of young Harry, you need only have his current guardians sign over rights."

"How's that to do with Dumbledore?" he received a glare for the question and held his hands in the air, palms up. "Right, sorry. No interrupting."

"As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Kyle rolled his eyes at the dramatics the goblin displayed. "The only way Dumbledore could challenge this was if you were either an unfit guardian or it went against the Potters' wishes. As for the first you are quite wealthy and I have explained the blood issue to you. And the second, well it would require a court case and the showing of the will of the Potters," Grux smirked evilly, "Thus incriminating himself."

Kyle smirked back. He had been right; goblins were good to have as allies, even if they were sarcastic at his expense. He could live with the sarcasm if it meant having their devious mind at his disposal. "So I just need to get the Dursleys to sign some papers and he's mine?"

"That is all."

"Great! Where can I get them from?"

"Usually at the Ministry in the Child Welfare Offices. However, we keep copies of most forms on hand here at Gringotts. One moment." With that he pulled a small bell from a drawer in his desk and rang it twice, summoning another goblin. After a moment another goblin knocked on the door and entered, making his way over to Grux. The Potter goblin leaned down to have a whispered conversation with his fellow who nodded and hurried out of the office.

"Now, whilst Brand fetches those forms, is there anything else you need information on or assistance with?"

"Do you know what state Potter Manor is in?" Kyle asked. "I think that it would be a better option than the residence in Hogsmeade. It would be farther away from Dumbledore's influence."

"I do not know. However, all you have to do is summon a Potter House-Elf, I believe you can do this by just calling for the Head-Elf, you don't need to know his name and just ask them to fix up the Manor."

Satisfied with that idea, Kyle nodded his approval and thanked Grux. Just then there was a sharp rap on the door and the goblin – Brand – entered the office. He handed a scroll to Grux, had a brief whispered conversation with him, and exited just as promptly. As the door clicked shut, Grux extended the scroll towards him. "The guardianship papers."

"Thanks," Kyle said, taking them. He slipped them into the breast pocket of his robes.

"All pertinent details have been filled in, they need only be signed. Once that is done, simply retie the ribbon and tap it thrice with your wand. It will automatically be filed at the Ministry. Also, from what we have gathered of Dumbledore he will likely know the moment you take young Harry from the Dursleys and most probably has a variety of tracking charms on the boy."

"What do I do then?" Kyle frowned worriedly, "I don't know the spells to detect and cancel tracking charms."

"Well, I have just sent for-" there was a knock on the door, "Ah, just on time."

Brand entered the room once again. He handed a box to Grux who nodded in thanks and dismissed him. As the door closed this time, Kyle leaned forward, curious about the box which looked somewhat familiar.

"What is it?" Kyle asked and was handed the box.

He immediately knew why it was familiar. It looked like one of those boxes that he had seen in the books in the library yesterday. The ones that held the Family Rings in them. Those were used when there was no Lord. The Coat of Arms painted on the lid of the box was the same as the one that had been on the office door. It was the Potter Coat of Arms. It was wood, stained a dark blue, highly polished. However, the only difference that Kyle could see was that the Coat of Arms had a small gold painted star above it.

He opened the box. As expected it held a ring in a blue velvet bed. The ring was made of gold like his, but unlike the one he wore, the top of the ring was wide and flat. Into the surface was engraved a small version of the family crest, like on the box. Instead of a star however, a small sapphire stone topped the crest.

"What is it?" he finally asked the goblin.

"It is the First Heir's ring," Grux explained, "There are a number of rings for heirs. The number of stars crowning the crest indicates how close the bearer is to the Lordship. The bearer of this ring would be the next in line to the Potter fortune."

"So you want me to give this to Harry?" Kyle asked, closing the lid on the box and shrinking it down so that it could fit into his pocket with the guardianship papers; best to keep those together.

"Yes, it will not only make him the heir but also act as yours does and remove all charms on the boy. Every time either you or he remove and replace your rings, it will repeat the process."

"Will it hurt him though?" he asked in concern, remembering the pain of claiming his own ring.

"No. It does not need to check intentions or blood. He needs only to be given permission to wear it by the bearer of the family ring. The Head of the family can also revoke the right to wear the ring at any time and the ring will slip from the finger and refuse to be worn."

"Good," Kyle said, relieved that it would not hurt the boy, "What about mine? If I take it off and put it back on in case of tracking charms, will it hurt again?"

"No."

Kyle nodded, thinking that this ring would be very useful. "Oh yeah, one more question. How do I _get _to Potter Manor?" He was eager at the thought of seeing his ancestral home and angry that his Dumbledore had no doubt kept its existence from him.

"Like most old family manors, it is unplottable so I cannot tell you where it is. It can be reached by portkey." Here the goblin withdrew from his drawer an old fashioned gold key, decorated with sapphires and hanging on a gold chain. He slipped it across the desk to the dark haired boy, who immediately looped it over his neck.

"How do I use it?"

"That portkey will only transport someone bearing the Family Head Ring and those he is accompanying. Anyone else trying to use it will find themselves portkeyed directly to the Manor's dungeons. The password can be set by tapping the key with your wand and saying 'set password' and then the password, followed by 'password set'."

"What about if I wanted to let someone else in? Do I have to collect them every time?"

"You can key people into the wards. I am unsure of the method, I only know that you can find out how at the manor itself. Also, if the Head of Family does not return to the house within two years, the manor wards automatically reset. So, if the Potters had not done so personally, you need not worry about Dumbledore or someone else having access to your home."

Kyle nodded in relief at that.

"Well," Grux said, "That appears to be all. Is there anything else you need to know?"

"I'd like to visit the Potter vault. But other than that, nothing that I can think of. I'll ask if I ever think of anything."

"Very well." Grux then climbed down from his chair and led him towards the door. Suddenly a thought occurred to Kyle.

"So exactly how much money I have now?" he asked curiously

Five minutes later an amused Grux let the shocked and dazed Kyle from the office. "To the vault?" the goblin asked, shaking Kyle from his daze.

"Oh, right vault," he said getting over the shock of just how rich he now was, "Yes I need to go to the vault."

A short and heart racing cart ride later they screeched to a halt outside the Potter family vault. Kyle was by this stage over his shock. Grux advised that so long as he wore the Family Ring he need only lay his palm on the door and command it to open. The now collected Kyle did as suggested and found himself dazed once more on seeing for his own eyes the extent of his wealth.

Another ten minutes later, Kyle Potter was leaving Gringotts, his newly filled money sack jingling on his hip and, for the first time ever, eager to get to Privet Drive.

* * *

Privet Drive was exactly as he remembered it. Boring, normal, ordinary. Rows of brick houses lined the street, each one near identical to the one beside it. The gardens, although sometimes colourful, were meticulously maintained, the grass perfectly cut. Everything was overwhelmingly neat. It was sickening.

As he walked down the street, he ignored the nosy neighbours who peeked out from behind their curtains, wondering just who the new stranger was. He would no doubt make the rounds with the gossiping wives over the next few days. He felt smug knowing that he looked nothing like he usually did when he'd been dressed in Dudley's old hand-me-downs. He was wearing a pair of dressy jeans with an emerald green dress shirt. It might be over the top, what with the suit jacket he was wearing over the shirt but he took a perverse sort of pleasure at the thought of Petunia and Vernon realising that their freakish nephew came from a wealthy family. And besides, Petunia would have to find an explanation for their delinquent of a nephew being taken by his rich brother.

Perhaps he could do something stupid, like talk to the neighbours about what he knew of Harry's living conditions to send a little more negative gossip in her direction. He quickly dismissed the idea though, tempting as it may be. Although, no, Kyle decided that it would be best to just get this over as soon as possible lest Dumbledore somehow receive word about his presence at Privet Drive. He wouldn't put it past the sneaky headmaster to have some wards set for identifying wizards, not to mention Old Mrs Figg down the road.

Reaching the house whose letterbox proudly proclaimed it to be Number Four; he paused and examined the building. It was almost the same as he had left it, from the white picket fence he recalled often painting, to the yellow daffodils that this world's Harry was no doubt forced to plant, just as he had been. A few of the flowers were different. The rose bushes had not yet been planted. He was glad he'd spare the boy that painful chore. He remembered well the many scratches he had received from the thorns and his aunt's characteristic lack of care at his pain. Bitch.

With a sigh, he shook off his thoughts, unlatching the gate and walking down the pebbled path, hearing the gate swing shut behind him. Mrs Number Six was watching him avidly through her kitchen window, so he hurriedly knocked on the front door. He wanted this business over and done with before the nosy woman just 'happened' to decided today was the day to visit the neighbours.

There was the sound of light footsteps and a brief pause. He knew from experience that it was his aunt and she was pausing to paste the perfect welcoming smile on her face, not that it ever actually looked welcoming, it usually looked like she was in pain, or more often than not, like she was constipated. Sure enough, the door soon swung open revealing a smiling Petunia Dursley. Her smile faltered slightly at the sight of him however. She couldn't have seen his resemblance to her nephew and sister's husband. Nevertheless, she pasted her welcoming look back on after she caught sight of how he was dressed although it was now tinted somewhat with suspicion. "Good morning. What can I do for you young man?"

Deciding this whole thing would go smoother if he didn't have to argue with the Dursleys or endure taunts about his freakishness; Kyle decided it best to be as polite as possible.

"Good morning ma'am. Would you be Mrs Petunia Dursley?"

"I am she."

"Wonderful. I was wondering if I could have a word with you and your husband."

"What about?" she asked, suspicion leaking into her voice.

"Perhaps we could discuss this inside?" Kyle looked pointedly toward Mrs Number Six. Petunia followed his gaze and started slightly before waving demurely to the woman as though nothing were the matter. Her eyes darted about, as though looking for any other watchers, and she nodded hastily.

"Yes. Yes, do come in." She let him in and led him into the living room. As they passed the stairs, he cast the small cupboard door a brief glance. Luckily the woman did not notice, merely gesturing for him to take a seat on the couch. "I'll just go get Vernon. Would you like anything to drink?" She offered, ever the perfect hostess.

"No thanks."

Petunia nodded and hurried from the room. Luckily it was a Friday. Kyle hadn't considered it before arriving but if it had been any other weekday apart from Friday, he would have had to return in the evening to get Vernon's signature. The man worked from Sunday to Thursday instead of Monday to Friday. He had no desire to make a second trip.

There was the faint sound of voices from upstairs – if you could ever refer to Vernon's booming voice as faint – followed by the sound of heavy footsteps on the stairs. Vernon entered the room, followed by his wife and stopped short on seeing him. It seemed Petunia had not mentioned his resemblance to their nephew. The large man frowned and seemed about say something when Petunia laid a hand on his arm and shook her head discretely at him. No doubt it was a warning not to go off on a stranger. At least not until they knew for sure he was a wizard, as he could tell they suspected.

The alternate version of his uncle sat in an armchair across from him, the furniture groaning and sagging under his weight. Petunia took the armchair beside him, sitting stiffly on the edge. "Well," Vernon asked gruffly, "What can I do for you Mr…"

Left with no choice, he answered. "Potter. Kyle Potter."

The man's face immediately grew red, his moustache twitching testily. Petunia had gone pale, her lips pinched as she wrung her hands. "You're one of _them_ aren't you?" Vernon demanded.

"Yes, I'm a wizard." And that was the end of politeness. Vernon jumped to his feet, towering over him.

"I'll not have your sort in my house!" he bellowed.

"Thank goodness my Diddums isn't here," Petunia screeched.

"- get out -"

"- not have you sullying my home -"

"- abnormalness -" Was that even a word?

"- FREAK!"

At the last comment he finally snapped. "_Silencio_!_Petrificus Totalus_!"

As the two raging Muggles were silenced and then toppled over he gave a sigh of relief that he was now able to do magic. An owl flying through the window bearing a Ministry warning was not what this situation needed. "Right. Now, I'm going to remove the spells but only if you both behave. Alright?" Realising they couldn't answer, he added, "Blink once for no, twice for yes."

The immediately blinked rapidly and he released them with a "_Finite Incantatem_." They both scrambled to their feet, Mrs Dursley hiding behind her husband's considerable form. Mr Dursley was turning from red to a worrying purple and immediately opened his mouth – no doubt to begin yelling again – when Kyle pointed his wand at him. "You will be silent, or I will make you silent. Clear?" Kyle bit out, very annoyed with the situation.

After a moment the man nodded, although Kyle could see it cost him a great deal to do so. From the vain popping out from Vernon's temple he was sure the man would rather take him by the collar and throw him bodily from the house. Tensely, the two Muggles retook their seat with fear in their eyes. A strained silence followed. Finally, Petunia spoke up. "Why are you here?" she demanded.

Glad to get the conversation back on track, he went straight to the point. "As I said, my name is Kyle Potter. I've only recently found out about my younger brother."

"You mean the boy?" Vernon interrupted.

"If by 'boy' you mean Harry Potter then yes."

"If you're wanting visitation rights then think again," Petunia spat acidly, "I'll not have one of your lot coming and going from our home on a regular basis.

"Nor will I have you making that child any more of a freak than he already is," Vernon added.

Kyle gripped his wand tightly, trying to control his temper. It was bad enough when his version of the Dursleys talked about him this way, but he had really come to think of this world's Harry Potter as another person. Another person who also happened to be a child and was family to him. Kyle was already feeling like an overprotective older brother. He felt that he now had a whole new understanding when it came to the Weasleys and their fierce protection of their siblings. Due to these feelings that were surfacing within him it took everything Kyle had to stop from cursing them both for speaking about his little brother that way.

Taking a deep breath to get control of himself, Kyle noticed Petunia gripping her husband's arm tightly again in order to silence him. Clearly she saw the effect they were having on his temper and wanted the situation exacerbated just as much as he did – that is to say, not at all. "I don't want visitation rights," he finally managed to say, "I want custody."

Silence followed his statement. He wasn't sure how they were going to react to his request. On the one hand, this was their chance to get rid of their nephew – the bane of their existence. On the other they had promised, on taking the boy in, to stamp the magic out of him and were quite serious in this vow. Looking up he saw them staring between each other and him, and in their eyes shone a light. The light of hope. He barely restrained a smile, unbelievably grateful that they were following the former of the two possible reactions.

"You want the boy?" this version of his aunt questioned, as though needing to hear it again.

"As in, you'll take him away and he'll never darken our doorstep again?"

"Yes Vernon, Petunia. I want my little brother to come and live with me."

As he said that he heard a stifled gasp come from out in the hallway. Luckily neither of the Dursleys seemed to have noticed. Since Dudley was not home and he knew for a fact that conversations in the living room could be overheard from the hallway cupboard, he knew it must have been Harry. He allowed himself for a moment to imagine himself in the boy's place. Many a time he had laid in his cupboard, imagining that some unknown relative would come and rescue him from the Dursleys. Here and now, for this Harry, that dream was coming true.

"What do we need to do?" Vernon had adopted his business-like manner and Petunia was looking at him eagerly.

Nodding, Kyle withdrew from his pocket the scroll Grux had given him, untying the ribbon and unrolling it. He ignored the obvious distaste of the couple opposite him and the not so discretely comment of "primitive methods" as he pushed the parchment towards the two. "I just need you to sign this in the appropriate places."

"Petunia pet, fetch me a pen." The woman hurried from the room and the remaining two sat tensely, avoiding eye-contact until she returned. Vernon accepted the pen and the two sat, leaning over the parchment, reading over the form quickly but carefully. Finally the large man gave a satisfied nod and signed his name at the end then handed his wife the pen. Petunia, her face alight with eagerness, then signed her name also and handed the parchment and pen over to their 'guest'. Looking quickly at the page and the space at the bottom for the signature of the new guardian, he quickly signed as Kyle Ethan Potter and set down the pen with a smile.

In a strange moment of comradry all three of them sat happily, smiling at one another. Fortunately, the strange moment passed quickly as they all realised just who they were smiling with. _Weird!_

"Well," Petunia fidgeting in her seat, "I'll, er, just fetch him from his room." As she rose he realised why she was acting so awkwardly. The Dursleys couldn't bear the thought of their dirty laundry being aired. And, one of 'those sort' or not, they didn't want a stranger knowing just where it was that they had been keeping their nephew for the past years. Giving a sardonic smile, he too stood up and Vernon followed his example, shielding his wife. Ignoring the fact that the man thought he was going to attack her, he spoke.

"Really Mrs Dursley, there's no need for that. I can fetch him myself."

"No, no I'll get him," Petunia said in a strained voice.

Kyle's expression hardened, an angry look entering his eye. "There's no need. I already know where you've been keeping him." With that he pushed past them and out into the hall. He ignored the strangled sound Petunia made as he stopped at the door to the cupboard under the stairs. He took a second to imagine how Harry must be feeling, waiting anxiously behind door, before reaching for the handle and swinging it open.

Two green eyes blinked at the sudden light before focussing on the face before them. Kyle watched as the boy examined him, an awe filled look covering his face as he recognised familiar features and realised that this wasn't just some cruel joke on the Dursleys' part. Realised that this person was really his family.

The little boy was sat curled up on the edge of his cot, his arms wrapped tightly around knees which were folded to his chest. As Kyle kneeled down before him the young boy's arms twitched and he leaned forwards before stopping and holding himself tensely. The elder boy was confused by this behaviour until the reason behind it came to him in a flash of insight.

He himself remembered dreaming of some relative coming to rescue him. Sometimes it was his parents, miraculously alive. Other times it was an aunt or uncle, a grandmother or grandfather. But one thing remained the same in every fantasy. They would come to his cupboard and they would kneel down and they would hug him. The Dursleys had always told him he wasn't worthy of such things, because no one would ever love him. But whenever he imagined, they would always hug him, like he never remembered being hugged before.

He focussed back on the boy – on hopeful green eyes just like his own. With a soft smile he held out his arms toward him. "Come here," he whispered.

In a flash skinny limbs were wrapped tightly around him, a face buried in the crook of his neck. He wrapped his body around the small frame as it began shaking slightly, feeling the wetness of tears running down his neck. "Shh," Kyle soothed, running his hands gently up and down his little brothers back, rocking back and forth.

This only seemed to bring forth another torrent of tears but Kyle kept soothing and rocking him. At the sound of shuffling feet his gaze whipped towards the forgotten Dursleys. He took in the angry and disgusted looks on their faces and protectively held the crying boy tighter. In that moment something changed and he knew that this little boy was his. It was definite. This little boy was _his _brother, _his_ ward, _his_ family and by Merlin Kyle would protect and love him forever. He already did.

As the tears slowed he kissed the boy gently on the forehead, remembering how jealous he used to be when Petunia would do the same for Dudley. The small head leaned back, tearstained face looking up at him, wide eyes showing surprise at the gesture. The boy bit his lip, clearly wanting to ask something but no doubt remembering the first rule of living with the Dursleys – don't ask questions. That was one thing he wanted to change. He wanted his Harry to know that he could always come to him when he had a question.

"What is it?" at the still hesitant look he added, "You can always tell me when you have a question."

This seemed to convince the boy. "I- I'm going to live with you?"

Kyle nodded, "Yes. You'll never have to return to the Dursleys again."

Green eyes brightened and a shy grin spread across his face. "And you're really my brother?" he asked eagerly with a hint of awe shining through.

At first, remembering all the lies Dumbledore had fed him and the secrets he had kept from him, Kyle wanted to tell Harry the truth; that he was but that he would explain it properly later. But then he really thought about it. He couldn't let this secret out and if he told Harry then there was a chance that he could accidently let something slip, not to mention the fact that the boy didn't know Occlumency so he couldn't protect his mind in an attack. But then remembering how it felt to be lied to Kyle vowed to himself that _this_ would be the only half-truth that he would ever tell the boy and that he would never to lie to this boy, his baby brother. "I am. We had the same father but I had a different mother than you did."

Harry looked at him suspiciously, the child was eight and he probably thought that it was strange to have a half-brother. The boy was not stupid; in fact he was quite perceptive. With the Dursleys he was not allowed to talk, so he spent the majority of his time listening and watching people. Harry remembered when he used to be the same, before he had gone to Hogwarts. Kyle discreetly looked from the boy in his arms over to his aunt and uncle standing nearby. He dropped another kiss on his head to hide his whispered words. "I'll explain it properly later. But I am your brother."

The boy followed his gaze and nodded in understanding. "Now, how about you get any stuff you want to take with you?"

At Kyle's suggestion, Harry slowly released him, reluctant to let go. The boy lifted his mattress pulling out a few pieces of paper and two toy soldiers. Kyle remembered that this used to be his secret place too, before he had been moved to Dudley's second bedroom.

As he turned back towards his rescuer he seemed hesitant. Taking a guess at the direction of his brother's thoughts, Kyle scooped him up, soon managing to settle him comfortably on his hip. From the bright smile he received in return and the way the little body snuggled into his he knew he had guessed correctly.

"Well, good riddance," the gruff voice caught both their attention.

The young boy burrowed deeper into his chest and Kyle squeezed him reassuringly. "Mr Dursley, Mrs Dursley. I'd say it's been a pleasure, but – well it really hasn't."

That almost set the man off again but Petunia held his arm tightly and shushed him. She walked to the front door and held it open, standing there stiffly. "Well you have the child. I'll thank you kindly to leave our home now."

Not wanting to argue further and eager to leave, he merely nodded and strode through from the house. As the door was shut firmly behind them the locks could be heard clicking into place – although how they thought that could stop him if he was determined to re-enter was beyond him. Still holding his charge, he walked down the pebbled path and through the front gate, absently noticing that Mrs Number Six was once again peeking through her kitchen window. He stopped a moment and looked back up at Number Four. If he had his way this would be the last time either of them would ever lay eyes on that house again. "Good riddance," he murmured.

The head in his chest rose at the comment and looked in the direction of his gaze before nodding. "Good riddance," he agreed with a smile.

Ten minutes later found the two boys in the local park, sitting at the picnic table. He had decided that it would be best to explain a few things to Harry – in particular the existence of magic – before whisking him away by portkey. It was a disconcerting enough form of travel as it was, without having no idea what had happened.

He knew that Dumbledore likely knew the boy had left the house. However, since Kyle knew that his Dumbledore hadn't turned up on the Dursleys' doorstep each time he left the house, any tracking charms must warn him when Harry wandered a little further from home – possibly if he left the neighbourhood. Thinking of tracking charms also got him thinking of the wards. He realised that he been lucky that there had been none that alerted Dumbledore to the fact that another wizard had entered the house let alone performed magic there. Kyle knew for a fact that if there had been one Dumbledore would have been there faster than he could say 'Lemon Drop.'

"Sir?"

The timid voice from beside him drew Kyle from his ponderings. "Sorry," he apologised, "My mind was wondering."

"That's okay, sir." Harry looked up at him nervously, obviously unsure of what to say.

Kyle scrunched up his nose. 'Sir' was for Uncle Vernon and Professors. "It's Kyle," he corrected.

"Kyle?" Harry asked, confusion in his voice.

"Yes," Kyle said hopping off the bench. He then drew himself up to his full height and adopted a posh voice, and bowing with extravagant hand flourishes, introduced himself properly. "Kyle Ethan Potter, but please call me Kyle. It's a pleasure to meet you kind sir."

Harry giggled, and accepted the outstretched hand, shaking it. Then he sat up straight and tried to look posh also. It looked to be a bit more difficult sitting rather than standing but Harry managed it with a laugh. "Harry James Potter, pleasure to meet you too. But call me Harry."

Kyle grinned and the younger boy grinned back. "Right then Harry, there's a few things I need to explain to you, so I need you to listen carefully, alright?"

The boy straightened up, looking both attentive and expectant. "Yes sir- I mean Kyle."

"Good. Okay, the first thing you need to know is this," he leaned close and looked the boy straight in the eye, "Magic is real."

The boy blinked, and then blinked again. Then he frowned. "But the Dursleys said -"

"Ah, yes. The Dursleys. The second thing you need to know is that the Dursleys are horrible people. And, for the most part, liars."

The younger seemed to consider this and obviously could find no fault with the logic. An eager light shone in his eye. "Can- can you show me some?" Well he'd obviously accepted that nugget of information quicker than Kyle had when Hagrid had told him. Then again, Harry was eight, Kyle had been eleven.

Putting that to the back of his mind, Kyle smiled and nodded, withdrawing his wand. Looking around to ensure no one was watching nearby, he pointed the wand at a nearby stick. "_Wingardium Leviosa_." The stick jumped into the air and began dancing around as Kyle directed it. Little Harry was staring at the display in shock, his mouth hanging open.

"Brilliant," the boy whispered.

"It is, isn't it? And you want to know the best part?" the boy nodded, "When you're older, you'll be able to do magic too."

"I'll be able to do magic?" Harry asked uncertainly.

"Yes, because you're a wizard, just like me." The look on the boy's face was hopeful for a moment, before falling.

"No, you've made a mistake. I can't be a wizard, I'm just Harry." Kyle blinked, remembering that he had said something much the same when Hagrid had told him that he was magical. Maybe two years didn't make that much of a difference after all? Kyle decided to go the same route as Hagrid had with him all those years ago.

"Well, 'Just Harry'," he said, smiling as he remembered Hagrid saying this to him before. "Did you ever make anything happen? Anything you couldn't explain, when you were angry or scared?"

Harry looked thoughtful, then surprised. "I have. But the Dursleys always got angry," his eyes widened, "They knew didn't they? They knew but they didn't like it. Didn't like that I can do magic. That's why they never liked me"

Kyle nodded sadly, "I'm afraid so. They're some of the most magic hating Muggles you'll ever meet."

The new word seemed to distract the child from his sad thoughts, for which Kyle was thankful. "Muggle?"

"It means a person who is non-magical."

"And a magic person is called a wizard."

"Yes, except for girls, they're called witches."

"Are there any other types?"

"Well, witches and wizards can be one of three types," Kyle began, deciding now was as good a time as any to explain, "There's pure-bloods, whose parents are both magical for a number of generations. There are also half-bloods. Half-bloods have one Wizarding parent and one Muggle parent or grandparent. Then there's Muggle-Borns. Muggle-Borns are magical children born from Muggle parents."

"Like me."

Kyle shook his head, "No, you're a half-blood Harry. Both your parents were magical."

"They were?" at the nod he turned thoughtful, "And that's why the Dursleys always said bad things about them isn't it?"

The kid really was perceptive. "Yes, I'm afraid so."

There was silence for a moment before Harry spoke up again. Kyle was glad he had taken his words to heart and felt free to ask questions of him when he wanted. "What about you? What are you?"

"I'm a pure-blood."

"But then how are you my brother?" Harry was obviously confused.

"Well," Kyle began. "We had the same father but we had a different mother. Your mother was Muggle-Born while mine happened to be pure-blood. Do you understand now?" Harry nodded slowly, trying to understand what he had been told. Kyle stood up from the bench again and clapped his hands together. "Right! So, I think that it's about time that we go home then, don't you?"

"Okay," Harry agreed, "Where are we living? How will we get there?"

"Where I'm not sure, but I do know how to get there. We're going to use a form of magical transport," Harry looked excited at the prospect, "We're going to get there by something called a 'portkey'. A portkey is an enchanted object which, when you touch it, teleports you to a certain location."

"But what if you touch it by accident."

"Well, some have passwords. Speaking of- now what did Grux say? Oh, I remember," Kyle tapped his wand to the golden key hanging from his neck, "_Set password, 'take me home', password set_."

The key glowed for a moment before returning to normal. At the fascinated look on Harry face, Kyle wondered when he had stopped appreciating magic. He remembered fondly a time when every little spell had seemed amazing to him.

"What did that do?"

"I just set the password for our portkey," he explained, "Now; magic is kept secret from most Muggles so we need somewhere private to leave from."

"Because they'd get awful suspicious if we disappeared into thin air," Harry nodded solemnly and Kyle had to bite back a laugh.

"Yes they would," he stood up from the bench, "Now, follow me."

In the end, they ended up hiding behind a copse of trees at the back of the park. Kyle, remembering unfavourably his first portkey trip, decided to warn Harry of what to expect.

"Okay, to do this we'll both need to be touching the key when I say the password. What you're going to feel is something like a hook behind your navel. Don't worry it doesn't hurt, just feels rather strange. Anyway the hook will pull you off the ground and your hand will feel stuck to the key. Then when we arrive your hand will be let go and you'll be slammed back to the ground. Most likely you'll end up falling over, I know I always do."

Harry had listened to the explanation attentively. He stretched his hand out and gave a questioning look. At Kyle's nod he held onto the bottom of the key whilst the elder boy grabbed onto the top of it. He was about to say the password when he realised he had almost forgotten something very important. "Can't believe I almost forgot."

He pulled the tied scroll from his pocket. Tapping it three times with his wand as Grux had directed, he watched as it disappeared with a puff of smoke. Happy that was done; he then pulled the ring box from the depths of his other pocket. Harry watched him as he opened it and withdrew the heir ring, before replacing the box in his pocket. He handed the ring to the boy. "Here, I need you to put this on."

"Any finger?"

"Any finger."

The boy fitted the ring on his right ring finger – the same as he, Kyle, had, he noted – and it glowed white for a moment before returning to normal.

"What was that?"

"That was removing any charms from your person." He could tell that Harry was confused but did not have time to explain. The headmaster would soon realise all his tracking charms had been deactivated, so they had to be gone from here.

"Ready to go home?" he asked, motioning for Harry to take hold of the key again.

"Yes," he said, a determined look on his young face, "Let's go."

"Right, _take me home_." With that a hook grabbed at them, and the Potter boys disappeared from Little Whinging, Surrey.

_**Please Review**_


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. JKR does. Adopted from Nia River. Only own original ideas.

**Chapter 3**

**_Fri, 7/2/1992 _**

They arrived in a tangle of limbs, feet slamming into the ground before losing their balance, falling sprawled across the floor. Luckily Kyle landed on the bottom of the pile. Kyle was quite tall for his age now. He could say that he was almost as tall as Ron was yet with a lithe build. Harry on the other hand was quite small for a seven year old due to malnourishment and he would have been squished like a bug had Kyle landed on him and not the other way round.

After much awkward untangling and several apologises for the squashing of various limbs, the two managed to find their feet again. Then they stopped and stared in open mouthed awe.

Potter Manor certainly lived up to its name. The place was obviously fantastically wealthy, and was quite grand looking, but in a tasteful manner. They had arrived in a large entrance hall, much like that of Hogwarts in that a large staircase dominated the room and several large doors led off from it. That was where the similarities ended however.

The floor was done in polished marble, as was the staircase. The banisters were black and the railings and floors were done in white, all veined in gold. In the centre of the floor was inlaid the Potter crest in black marble among the white. The stairs were carpeted in blood red trimmed in gold; the lush sort of carpet that begged to be waked about on barefoot. The focus of the room was a large, beautiful, crystal chandelier, accented in gold. It hung from the ceiling and even unlit it reflected rainbows of colour about the room.

"Wow," Kyle whispered.

"You live here?" came Harry's awed voice.

"Apparently," at the questioning look he added, "I only inherited the place today. This is the first time I've ever seen it."

"It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it really is." Kyle had thought that it would be in need of cleaning but he hadn't contacted his House-Elves as he had wanted to collect Harry before Dumbledore caught wind of there being a new Lord Potter.

At the sound of creaking they both turned to look to the left. The huge door swung open a small way and through it walked a tiny creature with large pointed ears and enormous blue eyes. _Thinking of House-Elves,_ Kyle thought. It was humming to itself merrily. Harry, having never seen a house-elf before, gave a small yelp of surprise, drawing the attention of the elf who in turn squeaked in shock.

"Who is youse?" the creature asked in a high squeaky voice, "What is youse doing here?"

Harry shifted his gaze nervously from the elf to his companion. Sensing his charge's uncertainty, Kyle rested a hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze and was happy to feel the young boy relax somewhat. "Hello," he greeted the confused elf politely, "My name is Kyle Potter and this here is Harry Potter-" He got no further than that as the little elf began dancing around happily.

"Masters has come, Masters has come! Tilly is so happy!" she suddenly stopped dancing, "Oh, Tilly must tell to Old Kell the news!"

And with that she disappeared with a soft 'pop', leaving the two boys staring at where she had been in confusion.

"What was that?" Harry asked, breaking the silence.

Hermione would kill me, Kyle thought to himself. "That was a House-Elf. They're sort of servants in wizard homes who are bound to the family."

"Like how I used to be with the Dursleys?"

Kyle winced, "Yes sort of like that, only House-Elves enjoy serving their families. They consider it an honour."

"Why?"

"I don't know. They're strange like that. Unfortunately, some wizards don't appreciate them and treat them quite badly. I once knew an elf that was expected to iron his hands and bash his head about whenever he disobeyed or spoke badly of his master." Kyle said thinking of Dobby in his old life. For a second he wondered whether he would be able to find a way to free him of the Malfoys. While Dobby was a bit odd and eccentric he was a loyal friend. One that Kyle missed.

"That's terrible!" Harry looked horrified.

"I know. I don't know how many Elves that this manor has, but I did know that there was at least one and we'll have to make sure we treat them well." Kyle said giving Harry a stern look to make sure that he knew that Kyle was serious. While Kyle was sure that Harry would never dream of mistreating an Elf Kyle thought that it would be best that he tell Harry what he expected of him right from the beginning.

Kyle saw a determined look settle over Harry's face. As the boy nodded firmly he knew he had been correct in thinking that he would never have to worry about Harry mistreating their servants. At the sound of a soft pop, followed by another, they looked down to see that the house-elf Tilly had returned and another had Elf come with her.

The other Elf was perhaps the oldest he had ever seen barring Kreacher. He was stooped and heavily wrinkled, walking with the aid of a small knobbly cane. Unlike the demented Black elf however, his age seemed to give him a sort of dignity.

"You sees, Kell?" Tilly squeaked enthusiastically, "Masters! Masters in the manor again!"

"Yes," the elder elf's voice was a strange mixture; high yet croaky, "Youse are indeed Masters. Youse is wearing Potter rings. Greetings Masters, I is Kell."

"Yes. Greetings Masters," the younger elf said, "How may Tilly and Kell serve youse?"

"Well," said the elder Potter, "As I told Tilly before, I'm Kyle and this is Harry."

"Master James's sons!"

"Yes Tilly, James Potter's sons." Kyle nodded; a small sad smile on his face. It really was hard luck that he had never known his father in either dimension.

"What can Tilly be doing for her Masters?" Tilly looked very excited at the prospect of doing her masters wishes Kyle noted.

"Well could you please sort out two bedrooms for us to stay in," Kyle began. "We're going to be living here now you see." Tilly gave an excited squeak and Kell had a smile on his face. "But first would you mind drawing a bath for Harry. I think that it's time that we get him out of his cousins' rags and into something decent." Tilly squeaked again and this time even Harry had a small, hopeful smile on his face.

"Really?" Harry asked. "I get new clothes?"

"Well I'll have to shrink some of mine down so they'll fit you for now as we don't have time to go shopping this evening." Kyle glanced at his watch, it was almost six. "The shops would be closing now anyhow. But yes, we'll go shopping for new clothes soon. Go on with Tilly, Harry. I'll be up with your clothes in about half an hour to give you time to bathe. Okay?"

Harry nodded and went off with Tilly happily, the both of them babbling away at each other happily. Kyle however frowned when he noticed his brother was limping, favouring his left leg over his right. "Kell," Kyle said as soon as Harry and Tilly were out of earshot. "Do we by any chance have any bruise balms, bandages and pain potions here?"

"We do, Master." Kell said slowly. His eyes had tracked Harry's progress across the room as well. "I can get them for you, Master, when you is going to give Master Harry his clothes."

"Please do, Kell. For now though would you mind giving me a brief tour if it's not too much trouble on your behalf? I would like to see just where we'll be living from now on." Kell gave Kyle a smile and began to hobble over towards the marble staircase. Kyle was surprised with the old Elf's agility when he was climbing the stairs. It seemed that Kell would not be put out of commission for a good long time yet. At the top of the staircase Kell led Kyle off to the right and then turned down another hallway.

"This is where yours and Master Harry's rooms will be." Kell said pointing out two doors as they reached them. The doors were at the end of the hallway and a fair distance away from the Entrance Hall which would give both Kyle and Harry some privacy. Kell then led Kyle down a hall to the left and pointed out what was now Kyle's study as he was Lord Potter.

The tour ended roughly a half an hour later after Kell had shown Kyle the dining room and the parlour as well as pointed out the fully-sized Quidditch Pitch before stopping out a door in a random hallway. Kell then informed Kyle that this was where Harry was bathing in and then he said that he would be back momentarily with the supplies that Kyle had requested earlier.

When Kell popped away Kyle took out his trunk, laid it on the ground beside him and unshrunk it. Rummaging around in it he pulled out a pair of warm pyjamas and shrunk them down so that they would fit Harry. When they were roughly Harry's size Kyle ended the spell. Just when he was about to close the trunk Kyle stopped short and almost wanted to hit himself round the head. He quickly lifted the lid and pulled out a pair of boxers and shrunk them down to fit Harry as well. He then closed the trunk and stood up straight again to wait for Kell.

He wasn't long waiting as just then Kell popped back with the supplies that Kyle had asked for floating behind him in abundance. "Thank you, Kell." Kell nodded his acceptance of the thanks and waited for Kyle to take control of the levitation spell before he popped out. Kyle knocked on the bathroom door before entering. After hearing Harry's voice telling him that it was okay to come in he entered the bathroom. What he saw was Harry wrapped up in a huge bathrobe that made him look tiny and his hair was sopping wet and sticking to his forehead like glue. Harry looked very cute in Kyle's opinion.

"Here," Kyle handed the resized boxers to Harry and set the supplies down on the counter by the sink. "Put those on." Harry complied quickly, turning around and putting the boxers on under the bathrobe. "Before you get dressed properly though, I want you to tell me if you have any bruises or any aches or pains." Kyle watched Harry's face pale a little before he replied.

"It's okay." He said. He was shaking slightly Kyle noted as Harry pulled the bathrobe tighter around him as if to protect himself. "There's no bruises."

Kyle bit his lip, wondering what to say. He knew for a fact that there were bruises. He had once lived in Number Four, Privet Drive after all so he was well acquainted with Vernon Dursleys meaty fists. Then there was the fact that he'd _seen _Harry limping. Sighing inaudibly, Kyle spread a towel down on the tilled floor and sat down. He patted the space beside him and Harry took him up on the invitation hesitantly. Kyle could almost see the cogs working in his head as Harry tried to find a way to make Kyle think that there were no bruises.

With a small shake of his head Kyle decided that honesty would be the best way to get through to Harry. While there was no way that he was going to talk to him about _his own _experiences at the hands of Vernon Dursley that didn't mean that he couldn't talk to the boy about Kyle Potter's childhood. "You know when I was a little boy," he began. "About three or four years old. My mum got married to this man." Harry seemed both surprised and relieved at the apparent change of subject. "At first he was nice. He would take me and my mum shopping. He used to make my mum laugh and he would play with me. But then, after a while he changed."

Harry looked up at Kyle with his bright green eyes. "What happened?" He asked. Kyle almost didn't tell him. But, he felt that this was the best way to connect with Harry at the moment; and he needed to check his ankle at least to make sure that it was only sprained. If Harry needed medical attention then Kyle wanted to know so he could make his brother well.

"I don't really know. Jonathon – that was his name by the way," Kyle added at Harry's confused expression. "Well he used to stay out later. He began coming home drunk." Kyle kept his eyes on Harry's face as he watched the boy begin to make the connections between Kyle's old step-father and Vernon Dursley. "When he was drunk he was different. He began to hit my mum sometimes. Then, when I was about five he began to hit me as well."

"Why?" Harry asked his eyes wide.

"Stupid reasons really," Kyle replied truthfully. "I would forget to put something away or I would make too much noise but most of the time it was for no reason at all."

"But that isn't right!" Harry protested.

Kyle wrapped an arm around Harry's to-thin shoulders and hugged him close. "No it isn't right. Neither is it right that Vernon hit you, Harry." Harry immediately froze and then tried to escape from under Kyle's arm but Kyle just pulled him onto his lap for a proper hug. He was very careful as he knew that there was a strong possibility that Harry had painful bruises coating his body. "Listen to me Harry. I _know _that Vernon hit you. I don't _think _that he did, I _know _that he did. Why do you think that I came and got you out of there?"

"He didn't hit me." Harry was sobbing by this point but he was no longer trying to escape from Kyle's strong arms. "He didn't hit me, okay!"

"You know, Harry," Kyle said softly. He tightened his arms around Harry as he felt Harry hesitantly cling to him. Kyle was sure that he was the first person to comfort the boy when he crying in a long, long time. "You're the first person that I've told. About what Jonathon did I mean? My mum knew, but he hit her too and there wasn't a lot that she could do to stop Jonathon from getting to me. What I'm trying to say Harry is that it's okay. It wasn't your fault that he hit you and I'm not going to go tell anybody if you don't want me to. It can be our secret, so long as you let me heal your bruises."

"You promise," Harry turned his watery eyes on Kyle. "You won't tell anybody?"

"I promise. But, if we have to get a doctor then we will but we won't tell anybody anything that you don't want them to know. Okay?"

"Okay."

After that Harry was only a little hesitant when showing Kyle where he was hurt. Kyle had been correct in his assumption that Harry's ankle was injured. When he looked at it, it was swollen and bruised. Harry could move it though and he said that it was only sore when he walked on it so Kyle was pretty sure that it wasn't broken. To make sure though, he cast a basic diagnostic charm that he was surprised he knew. After that Kyle applied some bruise balm and strapped the ankle up in a tight bandage. He ended up having to do the same with Harry's ribs. The diagnostic charm showed that they were just bruised, like Harry's ankle, but Kyle figured that it wouldn't do any harm to strap them too.

Kyle had been so angry when he had seen the state of his little brother's abdomen that he had accidently released some of his magic, causing one of the glasses by the sink to shatter. He was seriously contemplating returning to Privet Drive to have it out with Vernon Dursley for what he had done to Harry. It was only the thought of being arrested for Muggle-Baiting or GBH that stopped him from going there though. If anything happened to him – Kyle – then Harry would have nobody and would probably get sent back to the Dursleys due to Dumbledore's _precious_ Blood Wards.

"Kyle?" Harry said as he set down the glass of water he had been drinking to wash the horrid taste of the pain-relieving potion out of his mouth.

"Yes, Harry?" Kyle replied. He dried his hands on a towel and then stood up; stretching his legs out, trying to wake them up as he had spent so long kneeling on the floor in front of Harry.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Harry." Kyle smiled at him. "You're my little brother. I'm always going to be here to help you from now on. You just have to tell me when you need help so that I'll know. Okay?"

"Okay." Harry nodded before he yawned. "Oh and Kyle? I won't tell anybody what you told me. It'll be our secret as well."

* * *

**Sat, 8/2/1992**

Kyle awoke the next morning to unfamiliar surroundings. Confused, he looked around the room for some time before the memories of the previous evening filtered through to his conscious mind. Now wide awake and in the light of day, he jumped out of bed and looked about, taking in the details of his new room.

The bedroom was large and quite opulent. It was decorated in browns and teals, with bronze details. The bed was stood on a slightly raised platform and was a four-poster with chocolate coloured velvet drapes. Down from the platform there was a small sitting area with comfortable looking sofas and delicate coffee tables, etched with patterns of forest scenes, the etchings inlaid with bronze. Three doors led off from the room. The large one on the opposite wall he recalled led out to the hall. He assumed the smaller doors led to a closet and an en suite of some description.

Realising with some disgust that he had not bathed since the night before he left his own world, he decided to make use of the bathroom. Moving over to his trunk where it sat at the end of his bed, he tapped it with his wand to return it to normal size. Selecting an outfit to get changed into, he made a choice and headed for the door on the left. It seemed he had guessed right, as he found himself in the en suite. What he had not expected however, was the size of the room. It was easily the largest bathroom he had ever seen. It carried on the colour scheme of the bedroom and, with the marble floors, large sunken pool and many taps; it reminded him of an even grander version of the prefect's bathroom.

He spent some time fiddling with various taps, and ended up with a pool filled with white soapy bubbles as well as blue ones, the latter of which were scented with wood, fresh air and newly cut grass, bringing to mind the smell of Quidditch. In the end he indulged in the warm perfumed water for a good half hour before climbing out, drying himself off and getting dressed. He would have stayed longer but he wanted to check in on Harry and see if he had awoken yet.

A few minutes later found him standing outside in the hall before the door he vaguely recalled leading to the younger boy's room. After a soft knock elicited no response he carefully opened the door and stepped inside.

The room he found himself in reminded him of his own. There were a few differences however, the most obvious being the colour scheme. Harry's room was done in dark blues and beige, with accents of silver. Another difference was that while it still looked quite stylish, it was simpler and less mature looking than his was – more of a child's bedroom. Also, in place of a sitting area was a clear floor space with wooden chests off to the side which Kyle suspected were toy chests.

Focussing his attention on the raised bed, he climbed onto the platform and looked down at his little brother. The little boy slept soundly, one hand holding the blankets up under his chin and the other curled beside his face. Laying there in the centre of the huge bed, he looked even tinier than usual. Smiling fondly, Kyle sat on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand out to brush the boy's hair out of his eyes. At the gesture Harry stirred, blinking sleepily up at him and looking adorably confused. As Kyle brushed his hair from his face once more he seemed to wake up properly and looked up at the older boy shyly, his cheeks blushing slightly.

"Morning Harry, have a good sleep?"

"Good morning," the child smiled, "I had a great sleep. This is the softest bed I've ever been in!"

"I'm not surprised," he said sadly, remembering that he had spent the last years on a hard cot in a dark cupboard.

Harry must have realised the directions of his thoughts as his expression also fell. Wanting to make him smile again, Kyle grinned cheerfully. "Well, you'd best get used to it. This is your room from now on."

It worked better than expected as Harry's eyes became huge as he sat up quickly to inspect the room. "But it's huge!" the boy exclaimed with a wide grin.

"Huge?" Kyle pasted on a mock serious look, "Well, that won't do. You can't have a huge room," the little boy expressions almost turned disappointed before he continued, "You must have a humungously huge one!"

Harry burst into giggles. "But this _is_ humungously huge!"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm positive," he gave a serious nod.

"Well, in that case, it's all yours." This earned Kyle another smile, "Now, how about we head down and get some breakfast?"

They had rather a lot of fun trying to find their way to the dining room. In the end they got so lost in the large manor that they had to call for Tilly to come and show them the way. Fortunately, the young elf seemed to find their predicament as amusing as they did. And so, the three of them ended up walking – well Kyle and Tilly did as Kyle was carrying Harry due to his sprained ankle – happily through the halls, Harry telling the elf enthusiastically of the secret passage he had discovered behind a hanging tapestry.

Tilly it seemed was quite well informed of the secret ways, for which Kyle was grateful. The younger boy had been thrilled at the find and was already talking about searching for some more. He had a feeling he would spend a lot of time in the months to come searching passageways for his charge when he got himself lost. It would be good to have the help of someone who knew their way around.

Finally they were led through two large double doors and into the dining room that Kell had shown Kyle the evening before. Kyle had not been at all surprised at how fantastic the room looked. He rather suspected the same could be said for the whole of the manor as it most certainly could be said for the rooms he had seen so far. Tilly led them to the head of the table where he was directed to sit, with Harry in the chair to his right, before she curtseyed and popped away. Harry looked about to ask a question when their end of the long table was suddenly filled with food. Having spent five years at Hogwarts this was part of the course for Kyle. Harry however was both surprised and impressed, jumping a little in his seat and then staring at the food in awe.

"Where did the food come from?"

Kyle looked up from the scone he was buttering, only just realising that the younger boy had been shocked by the arrival of breakfast.

"The kitchens; Libby would have set the food on a table similar to this one on the floor below. Then, she used magic to send it all up." The pair of them had met all the House-Elves before they had gone to bed the evening before. There were four Elves at Potter Manor – well five if you included the little Elfling Mina. Kell was the oldest and he was the Head Elf. Then there was Kell's son Gully and his mate Libby. Gully took care of the gardens while Libby took care of the kitchens. Tilly turned out to be Gully and Libby's first Elf child or Elfling and she kept the house clean and tidy and did the laundry. And little Mina was Gully's and Libby's little Elfling and Tilly's little sister. Both Kyle and Harry thought that she was adorable.

Harry was impressed by the magic and the older boy just knew he'd find him down in the kitchens sometime soon, questioning the motherly elf on how she had performed the magic. Just when the boy seemed about to eat something he paused. Confused, Kyle asked him what was wrong.

"It's just, I wasn't sure if I was allowed any. I didn't even cook this morning."

Kyle put down his scone and turned all his attention to the worrying boy, giving him a serious look. "Harry, look at me. Now what you need to understand is that this isn't the Dursleys. Things are going to be different here. For one, I will _never_ withhold food from you. You can always be expected to get at least three meals a day. And none of those tiny portions you're used to. I expect you to eat enough to fill you up, understood?" Harry nodded, his eyes wide, "Good. Also, you won't have to cook all the meals or do all the work, mostly because it's not right to expect so much work from a child. And also partly because I'm sure the House-Elves would rebel if you tried to take all their work away," he added the last with a grin.

"They really like work that much?" Harry asked, scrunching up his nose.

"Yes, for some strange reason they do."

"Oh. So I won't ever have to do any work."

"Well," Kyle considered, "I think I'll negotiate with the Elves for a few chores for you to do. We don't want you turning into a spoiled, fat layabout like Dudley do we?"

Harry shook his head rapidly from side to side. "Oh, no. I never want to be like Dudley."

"Right, so we'll give you a few chores. Nothing too big though, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good, now help yourself to some breakfast."

* * *

Kyle sat down behind the desk in his new study and pulled out a piece of clean parchment from the drawer. He had spoken to Harry over breakfast regarding the invitation that Kyle had accepted for dinner that evening at the Longbottoms. Obviously Kyle didn't feel that he could just appear with Harry in tow, nor did he think that Harry would be ready to meet new people. He had after all just met and moved in with Kyle yesterday. Kyle felt that introducing him to other people – especially people that Kyle himself did not know well – wouldn't be the best idea at the moment.

Harry however thought differently. Kyle wasn't sure whether it was the prospect of meeting a potential friend in Neville or what, but Harry wanted to have dinner with the Longbottoms. So Kyle was now writing to the Longbottoms to inform them that he had acquired a young guest who would be living with him for the foreseeable future and as much as he wanted to go to dinner that evening, he just couldn't in good conscience leave his guest alone. Instead, Kyle had conceded to his little brother's wish and decided to invite the Longbottoms over to Potter Manor for the evening. Libby had informed him that she was more than happy to cook for so many people.

With a sigh, still wondering if it was the right thing to do, Kyle tied the letter to Hedwig and watched her fly off towards Longbottom Manor. When he could see her no longer he turned and left the room in search of Harry who had told him that he would be in the library.

* * *

That evening at five to six Kyle was standing in front of the Floo with Harry in his arms. The boy's bruises around his mid-section had almost disappeared but as his ankle was still quite swollen Kyle was a little reluctant to let Harry put his weight on it for too long; hence him carrying him. Harry didn't seem to mind though; he seemed to like being this close to his brother. Kyle had an idea that it might be due to the way Petunia and Vernon treated the boy combined with their little heart to heart the evening before.

Kyle pushed the thoughts away and threw a pinch of Floo Powder into the grate. When the flames turned green he stepped in and called out 'Longbottom Manor' and spun away. He had explained about the magical way of travelling to Harry beforehand as he didn't want the lad to freak out too much when he stood him in flames.

They arrived in a swirl of green flames and Kyle could proudly say that he let neither himself nor Harry fall. Not to say that it hadn't been a close thing. Kyle set Harry down on his feet and then looking at the soot covering their clothes he gave a quick wave of his wand, tidying them up with a cleaning charm.

"Good evening, sirs." a high-pitched voice announced.

Harry saw the House-Elf first and gave a shy wave.

"Good evening," Kyle said then introduced them both, "I'm Kyle Potter and this is my little brother Harry." Kyle introduced Harry by name as he had not named him in his letter. That was partly the reason that he had been so surprised at the reply that he had received that afternoon from his letter to Alice. She had told him to bring his guest along. The more the merrier according to her.

"Oh, wonderful. Mistress Alice and Master Frank and Little Master Neville are looking forward to youse coming. Follow Denny and he will show honoured guests to the parlour."

The little Elf then hurriedly skipped over to a door, holding it open for them. Kyle offered his hand out to Harry as a means of comfort and support. He could see that his brother was nervous about this dinner and no doubt rethinking his acceptance of the invitation. He could also see that Harry's ankle was bothering him as he was still limping quite heavily. If the walk seemed too long then Kyle would just carry Harry. He would let Harry walk first as he had no intention of babying him in front of new acquaintances and in front of a potential friend for Harry. That would only embarrass him to no end and he would probably resent Kyle. Kyle vowed to keep an eye on Harry though as he didn't want him to damage the ankle further. He could kill those Dursleys!

As they followed Denny, Kyle took the opportunity to look around. They had arrived in what he assumed to be the Manor's entrance hall. Unlike his own home which was done in marble coloured black and whites with accents of red and gold, Longbottom Manor's entrance was done in browns and greens with silver detailing. The floor was of deeply polished timber as was the staircase, which was carpeted in a dark forest green. Tapestries of forests and battles as well as various old weapons and shields adorned the walls.

The door Denny ushered them through led down a short hallway and then through another door into the parlour. This room was bright, decorated in yellows and blues and with large windows. Portraits of garden scenes hung from the walls. All in all Longbottom Manor seemed a bit more modest than Potter Manor, but still spoke of great wealth all the same.

Denny indicated for the two of them to take a seat on a cushioned couch, done in sunshine yellow.

"Visitors be seated. Denny will tell the Mistress and Master of youse's arrival. Would guests like refreshments?" Kyle shook his head and politely declined and then the Elf was gone with a 'pop'. Now that they were alone he looked down to see how Harry was doing. The boy seemed unable to sit still, fidgeting nervously and playing with a loose thread on the pants Kyle had shrunken down for him whilst he nibbled on his bottom lip. With a smile he ruffled the child's dark hair.

"Hey!" Harry's hands shot up, trying to fix the mess he'd made. He just grinned unrepentantly in reply, glad to have distracted him. Just then the doors to the parlour opened. Both green eyed boys looked up, watching as Alice Longbottom walked in with a smile. Walking by her side was a tall man who Kyle assumed was Frank and a younger boy who could only have been Neville.

Kyle was immediately surprised by the boy's appearance. He reminded him very little of the Neville he remembered in his world. The only similarities seemed to be in his light brown hair, blue eyes and somewhat in his facial structure, although this boy's face showed far less chubbiness than the one he remembered. For that matter his entire form seemed less chubby. Not to say he was skinny, more that he was average and showed promise of growing into a muscular man in years to come. He stood at average height, although that made him much taller than the tiny Harry, and he carried himself with a confident, almost arrogant air. That was the most surprising part of all. His world's Neville Longbottom had been shy and timid, prone to breaking into stutters and tripping over his own feet. He wondered at such a difference in him merely from being raised by his parents instead of his grandmother.

Kyle stood up to greet his hosts as Harry stood beside him. Kyle gave Harry a surprised glance when the boy took his right hand which he had previously let go again.

"Kyle," Alice smiled, surprising him with a strong hug, "I'm so glad you came."

"Well thank you for inviting us," he replied, managing to get over his shock quickly enough to wrap the arm that wasn't being clung to by his brother in a now death grip around her.

"Not a problem." Alice released him and then smiled down at Harry. His scar was covered but Kyle didn't know if she knew who he was yet. He had given Harry's name to Denny and said that he was his brother but Kyle had no idea whether the Elf had relayed that information to his Mistress and Master. Kyle was snapped out of his musings when Alice started speaking again. "Now, I would like you both to meet husband Frank and my son Neville."

"How do you do?" Frank offered his hand to Kyle and shook with a firm handshake.

"I'm well, sir." Kyle replied with a smile. Frank already reminded Kyle of the Neville after fifth year. He was tall and had an intimidating air about him but his easy smile put Kyle at ease. Pity the same couldn't be said about Harry. Kyle noticed that the boy was now even more nervous than he had been before. He should have listened to his gut that said this wouldn't be a good idea. "And yourself?"

"None of that sir business with me lad." Frank said with a laugh as he released Kyle's hand. "It's Frank. I was good friends with your father before he died. I'd like to think myself as a pseudo-uncle to you, if you don't mind that is?"

"Not at all, Frank. I would like that very much." Kyle had heard Harry's quiet gasp when their father was mentioned and decided that it was time to introduce him to the collected company. He moved to stand behind Harry and put his left arm on his shoulder, letting his right arm lay across Harry's chest so the boy could keep hold of his hand if he wanted to. "I'd like to introduce the three of you to my little brother, Harry Potter."

Silence. For about ten seconds that is then Neville was staring at Harry or more accurately, Harry's forehead where his scar was obscured by his thick unruly hair. Alice obviously noticed the direction of his gaze also as she gave him a slight nudge and a pointed gaze, as though reminding him of something. Neville immediately stopped staring and instead gave them both a once over, as though deciding whether they were worth his time. It seemed he approved of them both however as he then gave them both a smile. "Pleasure to meet you both," he said politely.

Alice was staring at Harry with tears in her eyes. She looked as if all her dreams had come true. Kyle had told Harry that the Longbottoms had been friends with Lily and James Potter before they had died. He hadn't told Harry that Alice was his Godmother however. He'd wanted Harry to get used to his new situation in life before telling him that. Especially because as Alice was Harry's Godmother, she should have applied for custody when the Potter's died. Kyle wasn't sure of the particulars of the situation but he hadn't wanted Harry to resent the woman before he met her. Kyle was willing to give Alice the benefit of the doubt until he learned more about her reasons for leaving Harry with the Dursleys.

Frank looked slightly suspicious at the situation. Then again Kyle wasn't too surprised at that as the man _was_ an Auror. It was in the job description to be suspicious.

Alice broke out of her stupor and took a hesitant step towards Harry. Harry in turn backed up a step into Kyle. Kyle merely squatted down so that he was the same height as Harry and wrapped both arms around him tightly. "They're not going to hurt you, Harry." He whispered so only Harry would hear. If he had been watching Frank though Kyle would have realised that his efforts of keeping his voice down was in vein as at least one Longbottom had heard exactly what he'd said. Kyle knew that Harry was scared; the boy was as tense as a board, well he had been until Kyle had embraced him from behind. Now, he was only slightly less tense.

"Remember what I told you last night? I will let nothing happen to you. I promise. But if you want to go home then just say the word. Okay?" Harry nodded slightly stepped forwards a little to indicate that he was okay. Kyle stood up and released him from the hug but he stepped up beside him and wrapped an arm around the boy's shoulders loosely to remind him that he was not alone.

Alice hadn't moved closer when she had seen and most probably felt the fear the boy had, that and the fact that Frank's hand on her arm had prevented her from moving closer to the boys. Now she looked highly suspicious like Frank. Kyle nearly sighed, just what he needed, over inquisitive adults poking their noses where it wasn't needed. He was just thankful that Neville just looked confused. Now, _that_ was how Kyle remembered Neville to be when they had been younger. The thought wasn't malicious. No, Kyle knew that he was going to miss his quiet friend.

Once again Kyle was broken from his musings by Alice, Frank and Neville introducing themselves to Harry. Kyle was proud when Harry gave a shy hello in return.

"Well, Nora has cooked up a lovely dinner for us." Frank said, succeeding in breaking the tension. "Neville, son, why don't you show Harry to the dining room."

Harry gave Kyle an uncertain look. Kyle nodded encouragingly, giving his shoulders a quick squeeze and the boy turned around to nervously follow Neville who was waiting impatiently by the door. He seemed to have gotten over his confusion and awe of Harry's presence and the two younger boys hurried off leaving Alice, Frank and Kyle following behind at a more sedate pace.

For his part, Kyle was disconcerted by the Neville's behaviour. It reminded him uncomfortably of the superior manner of Draco Malfoy and he feared that Harry might react the same way to Neville as he had reacted to the Slytherin boy in his dimension. On second thought however, he remembered that his original dislike for Malfoy had stemmed more from the maliciousness in the boy than the haughtiness. Neville seemed to lack the malice although he was not at all lacking in a sense of self-importance.

Kyle was surprised that neither Alice nor Frank had enquired about Harry's presence in the Magical World. He knew that the pair of them was itching to ask but he was grateful that they had the common sense to not ask anything about those matter's in front of Harry.

Lunch turned out to be as delicious as Frank had predicted. Nora, the Longbottom kitchen elf, was a brilliant cook although not – as Harry had innocently stated in his quiet – as good as Libby. Their hostess had agreed in a hushed whisper, although she made him promise not to tell Nora less they hurt her feelings to which Harry gave a solemn nod.

The younger Potter boy opened up during the meal. Thankfully Kyle's momentary fears turned out to be baseless as he seemed to hit it off with Neville. He did get the impression however that Harry wanted several times to roll his eyes at his new friend's more snobbish comments. Lunch was just winding down to a close and Neville brought up the topic of flying.

"I'm quite a good flyer of course," Neville boasted, "Not a natural unfortunately but I work quite hard at it and I've really gotten very good."

Kyle had had to resist the urge to snort at the very idea of a Neville being in any way competent with a broomstick. Harry on the other hand was just confused.

"Flying?" he had asked and Neville had given him a look of disbelief.

"Yes. You know, on a broom."

"On a broom?" now it was Harry's turn to show disbelief, "Do you have black cats and pointed hats as well, and cackle over cauldrons."

"Well some people have black cats," Neville sounded perplexed, "And I have a few pointed hats and there are cauldrons in the potions room in the Manor's dungeons. Why we would cackle over them though I don't know."

Clearly none of the Longbottoms seemed to understand the reference and Kyle could restrain his laughter at their looks of utter confusion. Harry looked a little confused at his brother's reaction and Kyle managed to settle down after a moment.

"Is it true?" Harry asked. When Kyle nodded Harry's eyes grew quite round and his mouth hung open in a round 'o' of surprise. Deciding to fill their hosts in on the joke he explained the idea of the Muggle stereotypical witch.

"So do you fly too Kyle?" Harry asked and he nodded.

"I love it. It's one of the things I'm really good at."

"A natural are you?" Alice asked and he nodded again, "I'm not surprised. It seems to be a Potter family trait. No doubt Harry will be too when he learns to fly."

"Do you fly too ma'am?" Harry asked her.

"I do on occasion. I'm fairly average at it though. And do call me by my first name dear, I am after all your Go – ."

"My what?" Harry asked. Whatever Alice was about to say Kyle wasn't sure as she suddenly stopped, making a low gulping sound in the back of her throat. He looked on confused as she then turned an angry red before giving a very defeated sigh and burying her face in her hands. He was more than a little worried at her sudden change in attitude.

"Are you okay, Alice?" Kyle asked concerned.

"She's fine." It was Frank that answered but he too looked angry. Kyle had no idea what was going on. "Myself and Alice were good friends with your parents, Harry." Frank paused for a moment to gather his thoughts. "We just cannot say how close due to a spell that was put on us shortly after your parents had died. Alice was just about to tell you when the spell kicked in, that's all."

Ah! A Secrecy Spell! That's what was wrong. "That would be why you and Alice never applied for custody then?" Kyle knew that he was being rude but he couldn't help it. Alice Longbottom was Harry's Godmother. Harry's parents were dead, as was his Godfather. Custody should have gone to Alice Longbottom not Petunia and Vernon Dursley. It had already been realised that Dumbledore had prevented the Will Reading, who was to say that he didn't put the Longbottoms under a Secrecy Spell as well?

"You know what we're not saying?" Alice asked in disbelief. Somebody knew! They could tell Harry! Oh, she _hated _this spell.

"I do." Was the simple reply.

"How?" Frank wondered.

Kyle showed them his Family Ring. "I became Lord Kyle Potter yesterday which emancipated me and allowed me to look through my father's and step-mother's will. It was mentioned in that." He hesitated a moment before saying, "The two of you were next in line for custody after Sirius."

Kyle could see that both Harry and Neville had no clue what was going on but he ignored them for the time being keeping his eyes on the elder Longbottoms. They were both staring right back at him, different expressions playing across their faces.

"Are you going to release the will?" Alice was the one who broke the silence first.

Kyle shook his head negatively. "No. I'll see to it that the wishes of my father and step-mother are met but I'll not have a Will Reading. If I hold a Reading then I lose all leverage over the person who was supposed to have it read and who placed Harry in the Muggle World. I am not going to give up custody of my brother though so you can save your voices if you want to argue about that."

Frank was silent, merely observing the conversation going on between Kyle and his wife. Finally he spoke. "I agree with Kyle, Dear. If the person who prevented the Reading is the same as the person who cast the spell on us is the same then Kyle will need every advantage he has if he ever has to oppose him. If not having a Reading gives him one more advantage then I say he should take it." When nodded in agreement with her husband, Frank turned back to face Kyle and continued. "However, I would like to know whether you are going to tell your brother what my wife failed in telling him."

Kyle nodded and looked at Harry. He could see that the boy was as tense as he had been when introductions were being made and he sighed. Not good. Without a word Kyle opened his arms and Harry only took a second before reaching up to him. Kyle pulled his brother up onto his lap and wrapped his arms around Harry's skinny little waist. He waited for Harry to relax before he spoke, aware of the three sets of eyes that were on them. "What Alice was trying to tell you earlier, Harry is pretty important." He began. "Alice here is your Godmother."

"Godmother," Harry's head cocked to the side in question, "What's a Godmother?"

"Well, if, for instance, something happened to me, you would probably go to live with her and Frank." This had been the wrong explanation however as Kyle felt Harry stiffen in his arms once again. "Not that anything is going to happen to me of course." this had the desired effect and Harry once again relaxed. "I guess it means that she's going to be an important person in your life."

"Godmother, does that mean she'll be like a mother? And Frank like a father?" Harry was directing his questions to Kyle, no doubt because he was still nervous in the presence of adults, not that Kyle blamed him of course.

"Maybe more like an aunt and uncle, I suppose," at the worried look he amended, "But a fun one. Nothing like Aunt Petunia or Uncle Vernon. I promise."

"Oh," Harry looked relieved, which didn't go unnoticed by the aforementioned adults. Then, as Harry's face turned thoughtful, he looked over at Frank and Alice and spoke shyly. "I think I'd like that."

Alice looked as if she was about to speak when Harry's face scrunched up in thought again. After a little prompting from Kyle, Harry asked, to both Alice's and Frank's shock whether he should call them 'Aunty Alice' and 'Uncle Frank.' Alice got a little teary-eyed at that and Kyle was sure that he hadn't imagined Frank's little smile.

"I think I should love for you to call me Aunty Alice." Alice managed eventually.

"O-oh," Neville stage whispered, re-entering the conversation. "She'll drown us in tears if we're not careful." They all laughed.

"What about Kyle?"

"What about Kyle, Harry dear?" Alice asked

"Well he doesn't have any real aunts either but he is my brother, so can he call you Aunty Alice and Uncle Frank too?" he asked innocently.

Kyle blushed in embarrassment, wanting to shush the boy. "Harry I don't-"

"Of course!" Frank interrupted cheerfully, "The pair of you can call us Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice if you want too."

Kyle tried to object a time or two but both Frank and Alice cut him off every time however, and in such a no-nonsense manner that he finally conceded. Besides, he could admit – even if only to himself – that the idea of having an honorary aunt and uncle who actually _liked_ him was quite appealing.

Eventually dinner ended though when Harry had almost fell asleep into his Hot Chocolate and Kyle had announced that it was nearly eight thirty and time to go. He'd had to carry Harry to the Floo as the boy had started to limp heavily again.

They'd left with promises to return the next Saturday for lunch which would give the two boys plenty of time to get to know each other better – and plenty of time for the two elder Longbottoms to interrogate Kyle on his guardianship of Harry to their hearts content.

With one last goodbye from Kyle and a lazy wave from Harry who was struggling to keep his eyes open on Kyle's shoulder, Kyle threw some Floo Powder into the fire and stepped in – just about managing to _not_ fall out the other end. Then he made his way to Harry's room where he helped the boy into the pyjamas he had given him the day before. As he watched his little brother's eyes close Kyle smiled softly to himself, a good night indeed.

* * *

Thanks for taking the time to read and thank you to all the reviewers. I really appreciate them. Please let me know what you think about this. I'm not to happy with this chapter to be honest. It was mostly to give a bit of background on Kyle's life as well as introducing the Potters to the Longbottoms.

Thanks again for reading and please review!

Ok, so just to let people know, I wont be able to update for a few weeks. Have exams at school in a few weeks and I just don't have the time to write properly. Hope ye all bare with me and I'll update as soon as possible.


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. JKR does. Adopted from Nia River. Only own original ideas.

**Chapter 5**

**_Sat, 7/3/1992_**

* * *

Nearly a month had passed since dinner at the Longbottoms. Kyle and Harry had yet to leave the house or its grounds to go anywhere but the Longbottoms who had invited them over to dinner every Saturday since the first meeting as Kyle did not want to draw any unnecessary attention to the fact that Harry Potter was once again in the Wizarding World. Or that he – Kyle – existed. Unfortunately Kyle knew he could only continue to keep Harry hidden for so long. He knew from the way Dumbledore had handled him just how it felt to be locked up. He had no desire for young Harry to grow to resent him for doing the very same thing.

As it was however, they were both happy where they were for the moment. Kyle had worried for some time what he should do about his education. Hogwarts would be just past mid-year at this time though, so he felt he could wait to decide at least until September rolled around. He wasn't sure what would happen then, since he had Harry to think of, but he was happy to put the decision off for as long as possible.

As for Harry, he seemed to not mind the house arrest, although considering his previous living arrangements this most likely seemed like unimaginable freedom to him. Kyle, despite living at Hogwarts most of the year, had spent enough time at the Dursleys in his short life to understand the sentiment. They still had to go shopping but it seemed that Harry was quite willing to put that off for now as when he had been exploring the Manor he had found a wardrobe full of clothes which Kyle had shrunken down to fit him. Kyle thought that it was the mere fact that the clothes looked nice and fitted properly that had Harry so excited. Of course Kyle knew that they would have to go shopping soon but until Harry asked or complained about not going then he was happy to think about that as much as he thought about Hogwarts.

The first time Kyle had ventured out onto the grounds – this was before they had had dinner with the Longbottoms – a blur of white feathers had swooped down to attack him. He had assumed Hedwig would find her way to the Manor all on her own, and she had. Unfortunately, Gully – seeing the attack – informed him that the owl had spent the past few days in the home's Owlery, as there was no way for her to enter the house proper. Needless to say, his girl had been less than pleased at being kept from him. Kyle had been quick to tell her that he would leave his bedroom window open for her from now on. After much continued begging and petting on his part she finally relented, giving him an affectionate cuff about the ears and hooting as if to say 'never do that again'.

He had then of course, to explain their situation to his feathered companion. By the way she cocked her head to the side he knew that she was confused but understood nonetheless. Still, even with warning, her reaction upon being introduced to Harry was most amusing. She had stared between each of them with eyes wide – even for an owl – before squawking and falling from her perch on his shoulder. Kyle had held in his laughter as much as he could, not wanting to upset her so soon after her accepting his apology. For Harry's part, he was simply bewildered by the whole affair. As soon as Hedwig had regained her owlish composure Kyle had sent her on her way with his missive to the Longbottoms.

Over the rest of the past weeks Kyle had come to be infinitely appreciative of the House-Elf family that served at the Manor. As usual he had given very little consideration to his plan that Sunday morning when he had taken Harry from the Dursleys. Impulsiveness thy name is Kyle Potter would be an apt way to put it. He hadn't stopped to think whether he would be able to take care of a young child. Fortunately the Elves were there to help – especially Libby who seemed to have adopted them both as two of her own. She kept them healthy and well fed, and was quick to point out important things to Kyle – such as the fact that little boys needed bed times.

The two boys spent most of the first few weeks – as the elder had expected – exploring their new home and acquainting themselves with its layout. Harry in particular, having not had time at Hogwarts to grow used to them, found the secret passageways to be fantastic fun. He had taken to hiding in various places about the house where Kyle was expected to be and jumping out surprising him. Despite the fact that the pastime had long ago begun to annoy him, Kyle hadn't had the heart to rebuke the little boy for it.

Harry's behaviour had varied widely. At times he would be overly quiet, unassuming and painfully shy, as the Dursleys had trained him to be. At other times his behaviour would change radically and he acted like a happy little boy with a habit of playing tricks. With the coaxing of Kyle and the Manor's family of House-Elves however, the fun side was breaking through more and more often. Sometimes Harry could even be a bit of a brat, but he was careful not to do anything to have him reverting to the way he had been expected to be at the Dursleys.

Lately when Harry started to misbehave his actions had begun to become increasingly dangerous and reckless. One morning Kyle had watched in horror as Harry had jumped onto the banister at the top of the stairs with the obvious intention to slide all the way down to the bottom. Unfortunately Harry only managed to keep his balance until halfway down the banister and then, with Kyle watching in stunned silence unable to force himself to move, Harry had toppled over the side and down onto the floor. Luckily apart from being shaken up and some bruises Harry was fine and did not need medical attention.

Harry had obviously gotten over his scare quicker than Kyle had expected because only a few days later Harry was laughing and screaming, playing around the Manor just as before, performing all sorts of semi-dangerous tricks which had Kyle in an almost constant state of near heart attack. He had also taken a fanatical liking to the word 'no' and delighted in stubbornly refusing to do anything his brother told him to do.

It was driving the elder boy insane but he still didn't want to do anything to discourage his charge's confident behaviour so he let him get away with it. Libby could be seen throwing him disapproving looks whenever such situations occurred but Kyle really didn't know what else to do.

In the end Kyle had confided in Alice one Saturday evening after dinner. The two boys had gone up to Neville's room to play and Frank had been called into the office so it was only Kyle and Alice having tea in the living room.

Alice had proved to be a very good listener and had merely remained silent as Kyle told her about Harry's drastic change in behaviour. He told her first how Harry was expected to behave at the Dursley's – skimming over the reasons why as he was _not_ got to betray his little brother's trust and tell anybody that Harry hadn't told him it was okay to tell. Kyle was sure that Alice had her suspicions regardless but he was relieved when Alice didn't ask for a more thorough explanation.

He then contrasted Harry's behaviour to what it was before and what it was now and Alice gave a little smile when she heard that her Godson had made a new friend with the word 'no.'

"And how have you been dealing with that?" She'd asked.

"Well, I haven't really." Kyle sighed. "I just don't want him to take it the wrong way and revert back to how he was at the Dursleys."

Alice had given and understanding 'ahh' sound and put down her teacup, leaning back comfortably in her chair and looking him in the eye. "I'm going to tell you a story dear. During the war I was an Auror but after seeing what happened to your father and step-mother… well I just didn't want to risk the same thing happening to Neville as what had happened to your brother. I didn't want to risk him becoming an orphan. The thought of that alone was just too much to bear so I immediately quit and focussed on becoming a Healer instead.

"Now as time passed I admit I was not as firm with Neville as I perhaps should have been. Frank was gone all hours of the day and barely ever home and I was gone just as long training. It was such a hectic time back then, there were so few Healers and so many patients that they decided to speed up the training programme which led to longer hours. Because both myself and Frank weren't around as much as we should have been I just couldn't bear being too hard on Neville. He was practically growing up without his parents. Unfortunately, and this is the important part dear, that really was not the best course of action. You may notice that my son is a little…" she searched for the word.

"Overly confident," Kyle supplied diplomatically and she snorted.

"Oh, don't be silly. I may be his mother and I do love him, but I'm not blind. I was trying to decide between 'arrogant' and 'full of himself'," she just laughed at his shocked look, "Don't be so surprised, I'm not one to let fondness for a person cloud my judgment. Besides, he's a good boy for all that he thinks far too much of himself.

"Anyway, when he was younger I let that boy get away with anything, not having the heart to tell him off. That's the main reason he's like he is. Eventually his gran took me aside and she said to me, 'Alice, if you don't take that boy in hand then I'm going to', or something to that effect. She gave me a long talk and explained that just because he didn't have myself and his father full-time was no excuse to let him run wild," Alice leaned forward and gave Kyle a serious look, "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"I think so. You're saying that I should be firmer with him and not use the Dursleys as an excuse to let him do whatever he wants."

She nodded, "Exactly dear. Now I can tell those Muggles were worse than you're letting on. Partly because as I've said before, you make a terrible liar, and partly because I can read your emotions when you talk about them. The change you describe in young Harry is a little extreme and I think part of it may be him testing his boundaries. He's trying to learn what is acceptable for him in his new home, so you need to make sure you let him know when he crosses a line."

Kyle nodded, taking the advice in. He looked up at Alice and gave her a grateful look. "Thank you."

The next week passed, Kyle implementing the measures Alice had suggested to him with pleasing results. The first time he had scolded the boy – for refusing to eat his greens – Harry had shocked him by bursting into tears.

"Hey, now. Hush," he had soothed, taking the boy into his arms, "Come on, tell me what's wrong.

"Y-you hate me," the boy had sobbed, "I'm g-going to have t-to go live with the Dur-Dursleys again, aren't I?"

The mere idea of Harry living with the Dursleys again had Kyle fuming. He wasn't sure when he had become so protective of the boy but the fact was he had. In Kyle's mind Harry was his brother, his to protect and take care of and nobody was going to come between that. So tightening his arms around Harry, Kyle had assured him that he would most certainly _not_ be sending him back to the Dursleys, that he didn't hate him and would probably never be able to and that he loved him. Those three magic little words had quieted Harry's sobs immediately and he'd stared up at his big brother with wide, hopeful eyes. The sight nearly broke Kyle's heart.

"Y-you love me?" Harry had asked in a shocked tone. He had obviously never heard the words directed at him before.

"Of course I do," Kyle had assured him, "I'm your big brother. I'm always going to love you, even if you do annoy me sometimes. And don't worry too much about annoying me, that's what little brothers are supposed to do from time to time."

At that Harry's face had broken into a wide grin and he had whispered back a shy "I love you too" and the earlier scolding was forgotten.

The second time Kyle had to take his brother to task was when he had found him dragging his mattress from his room in order to slide down the stairs on top of it. Harry hadn't cried that time although his eyes had become wet and his lower lip trembled. Kyle had strengthened himself against the boy's tears and explained to him gently yet firmly that he loved him, but such behaviour was unacceptable. He had warned him that next time he misbehaved, he would be sent to his room.

The third time he had to rebuke Harry; he had been running in the house and knocked over a vase. He had led the boy – who had been too shocked to argue – directly to him room for him to stay there for an hour. He hadn't locked the door though as he felt that if he had he would be behaving just like the Dursleys had. When the time was up, a much repentant little boy had emerged from the room and apologised for his behaviour.

Since then, Harry's behaviour had been much more restrained. He was quieter, but fortunately not in the manner the Dursleys had enforced. Instead he seemed to settle into a mostly calm temperament that seemed much more natural in him. There were a few incidents where Kyle had to punish him but far fewer than expected. All in all, life had been much calmer.

As the next Sunday rolled around, the Potter's were once again invited to lunch at Longbottom Manor. They Flooed out at precisely twelve o'clock and were led by Denny to the sitting room once again whilst he went to fetch their hosts.

Kyle had been pleased to see that Neville and Harry both seemed quite happy to see each other. Both had raced off to play together after they had all had lunch and Kyle and Alice – Frank was working again – both found themselves relaxing over tea as they had the last time, discussing what had happened since they had seen each other last.

"I took your advice about Harry's behaviour."

"Oh, how did it go?"

"Brilliantly." Kyle's grin seemed to be infectious as Alice began to smile with him. Kyle went on to explain in more detail. At the end Alice seemed quite pleased.

"Well I'm glad it worked out for you."

"I'd bet that I'm even gladder, being that I have to live with him." Kyle laughed. The discussion tapered off into a comfortable silence before eventually continuing and settling on the topic of Neville's nanny.

"Nanny Adella is a lovely woman but she really is getting on a bit." Alice began refilling her cup with tea. "She's just recently given me notice that she will be retiring soon. She has promised to stay on long enough for me to find a replacement though."

"I'm sure there must be plenty of people willing to baby-sit him while you and Frank work. Although, I suppose it would be difficult finding someone you can trust. I know I would never leave Harry with just anyone."

"Look at you; sounding all parental," Alice cooed and Kyle flushed in embarrassment. "Yes, there is the trust issue. You also have to be sure they're qualified."

"Qualified?"

"Why, for the lessons." Kyle stared at her blankly and a thought seemed occur to her.

"Harry is getting lessons isn't he?"

"Lessons?" Kyle questioned, shifting uncomfortably.

"Oh, well this just won't do. Every young witch and wizard need lessons, otherwise they'd turn up at Hogwarts barely able to read or write."

"Merlin, you're right! I can't believe I never thought of that," Kyle groaned. How could he be stupid? He had been concerned about his own education but hadn't even spared a thought towards his brothers? Kyle was disgusted with himself. Apparently it showed on his face for Alice began to speak again.

"Oh, don't you worry. You can't be expected to know all this from the start. After all," she gave a cheeky grin, "That's what I'm here for isn't it?"

Kyle snorted, "I suppose you'll just have to be, won't you," he said dryly.

Alice smiled softly and stirred her tea before looking up sharply at Kyle. Her smile had intensified by a thousand watts. "Oh, I've just had a marvellous idea." She said, clapping her hands like a little schoolgirl. "Why don't we find someone to teach both our boys? They could look after Neville for me but Harry could come over every day for lessons. Of course, I'll have to talk to Frank but I have no doubt that he would agree."

"That actually sounds like a good idea," Kyle agreed after contemplating the idea, "It'll be good for Harry to have regular contact with someone besides just me and the House-Elves and it'll benefit both boys having somebody their own age to talk to. Not to mention already having a friend when they go to Hogwarts."

"Brilliant. We need only find someone then. I have a few contacts…" As the woman pondered who she knew that might be interested in the job, Kyle's mind had another thought. He already knew the perfect person for the job. The man would probably be eager for employment and Kyle knew from experience he made a great teacher. Not to mention the man in question would love to be able to see Harry.

"Remus," he unknowingly murmured aloud, interrupting Alice.

"Remus Lupin?" she asked confused, surprising him.

"Did I say that out loud?" he winced.

"Yes, you did. How do you know Remus?"

"He was a friend of my dad," he stumbled, "I've read about him in Dad's journals. They were in the main vault. Dad wrote that Remus had always wanted to teach when he left Hogwarts. And there's the fact that he was in Dad's and Lily's will." It felt strange to call his former mother by her first name. "Remus was listed as third preference as guardian for Harry."

While Alice thought through the response he'd given, Kyle took the chance to strengthen his Occlumency walls. Hopefully that might help block Alice's Emphatic abilities. While Kyle had been telling the truth it wasn't the whole truth and he was afraid that Alice might pick up on that and ask awkward questions that Kyle would just rather avoid, unfortunately Kyle hadn't practiced Occlumency in ages and it was only now he realised how feeble the walls were getting and how cluttered his mindscape was. That was something that must be remedied that night.

"So, what made you mention Remus's name?" Alice's question snapped Kyle out of mindscape and he returned to reality.

"Oh, right," Kyle said scratching the back of his head. What _had_ made him think of Remus? "Well like I said; he was mentioned in Dad's journals and due to the fact that he was listed as a potential guardian for Harry that means that he is most likely trustworthy. The only thing I'd be wary of would be is he qualified to teach but as Dad wrote that he wanted to become a teacher then I'm sure he would be. And if he's already employed well I'm sure that spending time with his best friends' son _might_ entice him away."

Alice looked thoughtful but was nodding her head. A hesitant expression then came across her face. "I like the idea. But, you should probably know that Remus has – health issues that may stop him from working at times."

Kyle smiled. If that was the only worry that Alice had then this could probably work. "That only occurs once a month. He's safe at all other times."

Alice's gaze became sharp and Kyle could almost see her going for her wand. "How do you know about that?"

Kyle didn't lose his smile, in fact it intensified. It had been so _long_ since he had met somebody who didn't judge people so stereotypically. It was refreshing. It was almost as if he was talking to Hermione – no, he couldn't think about her right now. If he did he was sure that he would break down. Quickly pushing the thought away Kyle answered Alice. "Journals."

"Okay, so you know about Remus's 'furry problem'." Alice was still hesitant.

"Yeah, I do. And it really doesn't bother me."

She gave him a brilliant smile at that. "Wonderful. You didn't strike me as the prejudiced sort, but one can never be too sure with these sorts of things. Well as you haven't met him before myself and Frank will write the letter – Frank will have no problem with this either, dear – and we'll let him know about the offer that we need a nanny and that Harry and Neville both need lessons. Oh, and I'll mention Harry as an old friends son to make sure that he knows who I'm talking about."

Kyle was more than happy that Alice was going to write the letter. He had no idea what to say to the man; after all what could you say to the man whose death you had caused by – no! He was not going to go there. Not now. Later he would, but only when he was alone.

"Goodness, I haven't seen him for years." Alice was rambling. "He disappeared off the face of the Wizarding world shortly after James, Lily and Sirius died and that whole mess with Pettigrew," she stopped, thinking he might not understand what he was talking about.

"I know all about that. Or at least everything the Daily Prophet published about it." He'd also told Harry about it as well. After he had told him about the whole Voldemort situation of course. Kyle didn't want to risk the chance of Harry finding out some other way that one of his father's best friends had betrayed them to Voldemort like he had. Of course, Fudge, McGonagall, Hagrid and Rosmerta hadn't known that he was there and they had been discussing Sirius instead of Pettigrew but still, it had been a hard way for Kyle to discover that his father's friend had practically signed the Potter's death sentence.

"Right, well. I can't be certain he'll be willing to come back." Once again Alice's voice brought Kyle back to the present. He really needed to sort his mind soon, he'd been reminiscing far too much lately.

"Not even for Harry?" he asked.

"Well personally, I think he might never have left in the first place if he could have had contact with Harry. But as it was I'm sure Dumbledore would have stopped any attempts he made to do so. I know he did the same to me. Still, I think the fact that James and Lily's boy will be one of his students will clinch it for us."

"I hope so." After that first dinner with the Longbottoms Kyle had asked if it had been Dumbledore who'd put the secrecy spell on them as they obviously couldn't say. It would have been rather idiotic to place a secrecy spell on somebody without placing another one on them which stopped them from saying who put one on them in the first place and that they had one placed upon them illegally as well. And Kyle had to admit, if there was one thing that Dumbledore wasn't it was idiotic. Kyle wouldn't be surprised if he'd spelled Remus as well as Remus would surely have known about the will.

"We'll have to decide on a rate of pay and such and let him know first. That can be done later however. On the subject of money, I've a more important question. You do have some don't you?" Alice asked.

"Er, yes. I inherited the Potter vault and all," Kyle answered, rather nonplussed by the question. In fact Kyle rather liked the way that Alice didn't beat around the bush and was quite direct without being rude or condescending.

"Then why dear, do the both of you boys insist on wearing those awful out of date clothes? They are at least a century out of style – well Harry's are at least, yours aren't too bad." She demanded to know, an eyebrow raised in question.

Completely thrown, Kyle blinked in confusion, looking down at the 'awful out of date clothes' to which she referred. It was a valid question. Kyle hadn't had new clothes in about two years, his old guardians – the aunt and uncle who had held no love for him or he for them – had bought him clothes only when he needed them and had simply made them bigger with magic as he began to grow out of them. Kyle Potter had never been very sporty he had preferred books over a broom – not that he couldn't fly – but going through his memories Kyle found that he'd been more like the Hermione of the other dimension rather than the Harry Potter of the other dimension. Therefore because he didn't really play sports Kyle didn't really ruin his clothes and that along with magic made sure that they lasted him a long time – hence the outdated look. Well outdated according to Alice.

Harry's clothes on the other hand were a little outdated but Kyle hadn't gone shopping as Harry had never complained and he had seemed to like the clothes. Well that and the fact that Kyle just wanted to avoid the Wizarding World completely. But still, it wasn't fair to Harry to not have him dressed properly and Harry was Kyle's first priority not the Wizarding World. It was his responsibility to look after his little brother, to provide adequate food, shelter and clothing. And now that he thought about it, these old fashioned clothes that Harry was wearing were not nearly adequate enough for his brother. Resolute in his decision, Kyle looked up at Alice's still questioning face.

"You know, you're absolutely right. I never really thought about it before but now that I have – well, I'll have to take the both of us shopping as soon as possible. "

"Good," she nodded in approval, "What say we go now?"

"Now?" Kyle blinked. That was sudden.

"Why not? There's plenty of the day left. We can Floo to Diagon Alley. Has Harry been before?"

"No, not yet. I've been trying to avoid letting people know about me and that Harry was back in the Wizarding World with me as his guardian for as long as possible. It's not really a situation that I want to deal with to be honest."

"You'll have to deal with it sometime, Kyle." Alice smiled at him. "And besides, going to the Alley will be a treat for Harry. We'll cover up his scar and if anything does happen – well Frank is on duty and I can send him a Patronus if we need him. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great." Kyle said putting his cup down and standing up. "I just have to Floo back to the Manor and fetch my Gringotts key. Is it alright to leave Harry with you whilst I – "

"Don't be silly dear," Alice cut him off and waved a hand dismissively, "It's no trouble at all. Denny!"

'Pop'

"Yes, Mistress Alice?"

"Denny, would you show Kyle to the nearest fireplace so he can use the Floo?"

"Of course Mistress."

When Kyle Flooed back to Longbottom Manor some ten minutes later, the three were waiting there in the entrance hall for him. Harry immediately hurried over to him, a dark green brimless cap topped with a golden tassel covering his head and scar.

"Is it true?" he asked eagerly, bouncing on the balls of his feet, "Are we really going to a magical shopping place and am I really getting brand new clothes, just for me?"

"Sure are," he nodded with a grin, "I promised you I'd get you some didn't I? And I'll be getting some clothes for myself too. Aunty Alice thinks that they're too old fashioned. "

"Wow," the boy breathed, as though unable to believe his luck.

"We should probably use an alias for Harry," Alice suggested and he immediately agreed.

"What's an alias?" Neville asked.

"It's a pretend name," Harry told his friend.

"Like a spy?" the boy asked, clearly liking the idea, "Wicked! What shall we call you? I know, how about Bartholomew or Fido or Dummy," he snickered.

"No way," Harry's little nose scrunched up, "I want something good like… I know, Bob!"

Kyle and Alice shared an amused glance at the incongruent name but Harry seemed so pleased with himself that they nodded all the same.

The four of them Flooed to Diagon Alley. Alice went first with Neville and Kyle took Harry directly after. The two of them only just managed to stay upright, Alice having to step forward and steady them. As Kyle sent a quick _Scourgify_ at the both of them, his charge stared about in curiosity.

"Huh, wizards really do wear dresses," he said quietly but Kyle overheard and sent the boy an amused questioning look.

"Dresses?"

"I asked Neville when we first met why he was wearing a dress. He got mad and said it was a robe and lots of wizards wear them," he gave a sheepish look; "I didn't believe him till just now."

Before he could comment Neville came forward and grabbed Harry's hand, dragging him towards the back door.

"Come on Ha- er, Bob. Let's go. I want to see the broomsticks."

"Wait for us you two," Alice called as the both of them hurried to keep up.

After reaching the boys in the courtyard behind the Leaky Cauldron they both told their charges off and made them promise not to run off ahead again. Then, Kyle tapped his wand in the appropriate pattern on the brick wall and it slid away. All three of them watched Harry's face, wanting to see his reaction. They were all quite amused to see his eyes bulge and his jaw fall open.

"Cool, huh?" Kyle asked, snapping him from his daze.

"Yeah, this is brilliant."

They all made their way down the street, headed towards Gringotts. Neville appeared unimpressed and Kyle could see Harry was trying to look the same. The slight widening of his eyes and the way his gaze darted about gave him away however.

They finally reached the bank and ascended the stairs. Harry started upon seeing the goblins and looked to Kyle for reassurance.

"Goblins," he explained, "Just remember to be polite." Harry nodded hastily.

Harry had a ball on the cart ride, whooping along with Neville. The goblin in their cart did not seem annoyed at the behaviour as Kyle had expected. Rather, he seemed to enjoy having customers who so appreciated the trip. The young Potter boy's jaw had once again hit the floor when the vaults had been opened, shocked at the amount of gold.

Kyle was somewhat disappointed not to have seen Jarnack anywhere about. Then again, Rockwell _had_ said he was only working the tellers that day to make up numbers however, so he should have expected it. Soon enough though, they left Gringotts, moneybags filled.

Their first stop was Madam Malkin's, although Alice did have to practically drag all three boys – drooling – away from the Quidditch store – even Harry, who had only the vaguest idea what a broomstick could do. As they entered the clothes shop, the bell tinkled and a squat witch came out from the back of the store to greet them.

"Good afternoon, I'm Madam Malkin- oh, Alice! Good to see you again. How have you and young Neville been?"

"Hilda, good to see you too," she gave the woman a hug, "We've both been great."

"That's good. So what can I do for you all?"

"These are friends of ours; Kyle and his little brother Bob. As you can see, they're both desperately in need of a completely new wardrobe."

"Well they've come to the right place then," she replied, sending their current outfits a distasteful look. Honestly, Kyle didn't think that the clothes were _that _old fashioned. "Follow me to the back and we'll get you both measured up."

The four followed the woman to the back of the store where the Potters were directed to stand on stools. Madam Malkin seemed to be running the store alone today since she measured first one then the other herself, rather than calling for an assistant. After both had been measured she waved her wand, causing a number of items of clothing to zip from their hangings about the store and deposit themselves in two piles before her customers.

"The pile on the left should all be in your size sir," she told Kyle, tucking her wand away, "And the pile on the right will all fit you young Bob."

Harry, who had stared wide-eyed at the display of magic, turned to his brother with eager eyes.

"Well, what are you waiting for," Kyle said with a smile, "Try them on and pick out the ones you like."

"Really, I get to choose?"

"Absolutely," he gave a nod, "But I do reserve the right to add a few outfits if you do not have them as part of your 'yes' pile. Okay?""

The boy gave a huge grin and dived into the pile of clothes. The elder Potter then did the same, though at a much more sedate pace. Seeing his young charge being directed to a curtained off changing area with an armful of clothes, he picked out a few outfits to try on himself and got Madam Malkin to show him somewhere to change also.

Over the next half hour he tried on a number of outfits, some going to a 'no pile' and others to a 'buy pile'. As he tried on the last outfit and deemed it a 'no' he looked over the items he had decided to buy.

He had selected a number of both casual and open robes in mostly greens, blacks, blues and greys. There were also several shirts in the same colours as well as white and brown. Some of them were button-down and the rest were a belted tunic style that was popular in the Wizarding world with both long and short sleeves. Lastly, for pants, he selected a few in darker colours as well as two pairs of Muggle jeans that had somehow found their way into the shop.

Satisfied with his choices he made his way over to where Alice was sitting with the store owner. Both looked up as he sat down also.

"Aunt Alice, Madam Malkin," he greeted them politely.

"All done then dear?"

"Yes. The pile on that table is the ones I'm buying," he indicated and both women nodded, "Where's Neville gone off to then?"

"Oh, he's helping Bob out I think," Alice said before a laugh was heard from the changing area, "That would be him."

"I was wondering what all the laughing was earlier. What's it all about?"

The two women shared an amused look and Madam Malkin even gave a short giggle.

"He's just enjoying helping your younger brother out I think," Hilda told with a smirk. What that smirk was supposed to mean Kyle had no idea but he was a bit unnerved by it.

"You really ought to have thought a bit more carefully before you promised him he could choose whatever outfits he liked," Alice said with a smirk.

Before Kyle had a chance to ask just what was mean by that comment, the two boys emerged from the changing area, each carrying an armful of clothes. Strangely, there seemed to be only bright, eye-catching outfits in Harry's arms and sedate or conservative outfits being carried by Neville. An inkling of the reason for the laughter entered his mind and was confirmed as the Longbottom boy dumped his pile whilst Harry brought his over to Kyle, grinning widely.

"I'm done."

He gaped for a moment at the clothes, a black and yellow checked pair of pantaloons catching his eye. At the sound of muffled laughter from the others he couldn't help himself and broke into snickers, setting the others off. After a time, the bewildered look on his younger self's face helped him to get control of himself once again.

"I don't get it," Harry asked, forehead wrinkled in confusion, "Why does everyone keep laughing?"

"Er- never mind that. Just, umm- are you sure those are the ones you want?"

"Aunty Alice asked the same thing," he gave an annoyed sigh, "And yes, I am sure."

Kyle nodded, biting his bottom lip to keep from laughing. He should have expected such a thing. Harry was still a child after all and followed the logic of one. His thoughts upon being able to choose a wardrobe for himself – for the first time ever – were probably to get as far away from Dudley's hand-me-downs as possible. That meant bright colours instead of the faded ones and outrageous styles to counter the 'normal' ones. He was also unsurprised to find a number of items were quite form-fitting, very much unlike the clothes he usually swum in.

"Alright then," he gave Harry a supportive grin, "I think you've made some good choices. Let's go pay for them all, shall we."

Ignoring the perplexed and amused looks at his 'good choices' comment, he scooped up his own clothes and led Harry to the front of the shop, depositing both piles on the counter. The others followed, Madam Malkin bustling after them and immediately ringing up their purchases. Once the price was given and he had paid for their new wardrobes he picked out an outfit to wear for the rest of their trip and suggested Harry do the same. The other three waited in the front room of the shop whilst they got changed.

He emerged from the back of the shop wearing black trousers and a cream coloured button-down shirt with an open dark blue robe over the top. Alice looked him over once and nodded in approval of his choices. Then the four of them waited expectantly for Harry to return.

When the boy finally joined them, they all had to muffle their laughter. Neville however, didn't succeed for very long and was soon rolling on the ground. Harry threw his friend a strange look.

"What's wrong with him?" he muttered to himself.

Harry had chosen to wear the black and yellow checked pantaloons, topped with a skin tight singlet in fluoro pink. Each was bad enough on their own; together however, they clashed horribly. Harry seemed completely oblivious to this fact however and none of them had the heart to tell him. Instead they all nodded as though they thought his outfit very snappy.

"A lovely fit," said Madam Malkin.

"A wonderfully unique style," Alice said with a hiccup.

"Very colourful," Kyle managed to say straight faced.

"Yeah, it's good mate," Neville said, before falling to the ground again in laughter.

Harry grinned at the seemingly praising words then shot his friend rolling on the ground a worried.

"Are you alright, Nev?"

"Y-yeah," the boy gathered himself, giving only a few brief chuckles, "I'm fine."

"Well, we're done here then," Alice announced, taking control of the situation, "Next I say we should get you two some new shoes and perhaps some new glasses."

Kyle nodded and took Harry's hand, leading him out of the store – he'd had a quiet word with Madam Malkin requesting a more conservative wardrobe for Harry to be posted to the Manor whilst they had been waiting for Harry to finish changing – after Alice, who was leading Neville. They all waved goodbye to Madam Malkin, before exiting the shop, the bell tinkling behind them.

As they headed down the Alley searching for a good cobbler, a dumpy looking man nearby lost his grip on his newspaper and it went flying, forcing him to chase after it down the street. As it whipped past Harry, his arm snapped out and grabbed it mid-flight. The man caught up with them, puffing and out of breath, as his newspaper was returned to him.

"Well thank you m'boy," he said cheerfully, patting him on the head, "Thing was getting away from me before- well by Merlin!"

Kyle, who had been watching the interaction with the others, immediately went on guard as the man froze, his eyes going wide. Looking between the two, he quickly realised what was happening and cursed under his breath. It seemed that sometime during their clothes shopping Harry had taken off his hat and forgotten to put it back on. They were lucky that Madam Malkin had not noticed the famous scar through the boy's fringe. This man however, had messed Harry's hair up when patting him on the head, spotting the lightning bolt scar easily. All this occurred to him in a matter of moments and he stepped forward to act. He was not quick enough however, as the man unfroze and exclaimed aloud.

"It's Harry Potter!"

Pandemonium. That was the only word for it. People heard the shouted declaration and began rushing forward to meet the young hero. They shook his hand and patted his head, as they introduced themselves, wanting to say they had met the famous Boy-Who-Lived.

Kyle watched all this in worry, trying to get to Harry through the crowd. The boy's expression had quickly gone from confusion to worry to panic at the reactions of the witches and wizards surrounding him. Kyle was vaguely aware of Alice and Neville behind him, also trying to get to Harry in order to help. As two witches jostled each other to get to their hero first, Harry was knocked roughly to the ground. As soon as he saw the tears beginning to fall from his boy's wide green eyes, Kyle saw red. That was _his_ little brother that the crowd were happy upsetting. _His little brother. _

"_Sonorous_. ENOUGH!" his voice boomed, causing people to halt in confusion, "MOVE AWAY FROM THE BOY!" Kyle waded determinedly through the crowd, throwing _Stupefy_ and _Petrificus Totalus_ curses at anyone who didn't move out of his path fast enough. The mob soon got the idea though, and parted to let him through. As he finally reached Harry's side, the boy saw him and with a cry of "Kyle" threw himself into his big brothers arms, sobbing with leftover fright. The crowd, finally seeing the boy's condition, shifted awkwardly, sending one another guiltily looks.

"YOU ALL SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOUR BEHAVIOUR!" he yelled, the charm still on his voice, "MOBBING A LITTLE BOY LIKE THAT! THE TWO OF US WILL BE LEAVING NOW AND DON'T ANYONE DARE TRY TO STOP ME!"

"And who do you think you are to decide that we cannot speak to our hero?" Said a squat, toad-like woman Kyle knew all too well. "The Minister has wanted to meet with the boy and I shall take him along to meet him now."

Kyle glared dangerously to the woman standing in front of him. Harry was shaking in his arms, face buried into Kyle's neck arms and legs clinging to him in fright. "Who do you think _you _are to demand this boy go anywhere with you?" Kyle snarled viciously.

The woman's smile widened more if possible. "I am Delores Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary to the Minister and that boy _will_ be coming with me to meet with him. Who do you think _you _are to deny the Minister this?"

Kyle was about to reply and tell Delores Umbridge just exactly who she was dealing with but before he could he was interrupted by the sight of six people wearing red cloaks walking through the crowd toward them. Leading the Aurors was Frank Longbottom. Kyle was seriously relieved to see the man, he would have feared for Umbridge's health if Frank hadn't appeared when he did. "Everything alright, Lord Potter."

That of course started the whisperings up again but Kyle was glad that it was said. Frank had just given him a chance to publically lay claim to his little brother and show that there was nothing that anybody could do to revoke custody. "Why yes, Auror Longbottom." Kyle said when the whisperings quieted. Harry seemed to have calmed down a bit so Kyle set him down on the ground again – Kyle would prefer to be able to shield Harry with his body if things got nasty enough to require throwing spells – but he kept a tight hold of his hand. "I'm just preventing an attempted kidnapping on my brother that, according to this witch here – " Kyle nodded towards the now fuming Umbridge " – was sanctioned by the Minister of Magic himself!"

"How _dare_ you accuse the Minister of such actions!" Screeched Umbridge, incensed. "Aurors! Arrest him!"

Frank turned his gaze on the still fuming Umbridge. If it wasn't for the fact that Harry was terrified Kyle would have really enjoyed this. "You want me to arrest him Madame Umbridge?" Frank asked. "On what grounds?"

"Slandering our dear Minister!" Umbridge's eyes began to gleam manically. She rather reminded Kyle of Bellatrix Lestrange. "You heard what he said!"

Frank nodded his head almost imperceptibly and two Aurors that Kyle recognised as Shaklebolt and Dawlish moved silently towards Umbridge.

"Yes," said Frank. "I did hear what was said." Kyle felt Harry stiffen beside him and he gripped the boy's hand tighter in response, trying to convey silently that everything would be alright. "Lord Potter. Do you wish to press charges against Madame Umbridge and the Minister for a kidnapping attempt on your younger brother, Harry Potter?"

Ignoring Umbridge's shrieking Kyle nodded to Frank and answered with an affirmative. The two Aurors, Shaklebolt and Dawlish, both grabbed one of Umbridge's arms and Portkeyed her away, presumably to the ministry holding cells.

"Thank you Auror Longbottom but if you don't have any further questions I would rather take my brother home. It's not every day that an eight year old boy can expect to be mobbed on the street because he has gone shopping." The mobbers in question once again bowed their heads in shame.

"May I offer you an escort home, Lord Potter?" Frank asked professionally. "It might persuade people from trying this again."

Kyle nodded and then looked down to see how Harry was coping. The boy was still terrified at the amount of people staring at him and was clinging both to Kyle's hand and his leg, trying to hide himself from view. Kyle bent down and opened his arms to pick Harry up. Harry didn't wait a second before clinging to the safety his brother offered him again. Without another word Kyle and Frank made their way towards the Leaky Cauldron which was the nearest available Floo.

Kyle ignored the curious looks he received and when he reached the fireplace he threw a pinch of Floo Powder into the flames.

"Longbottom Manor," he stated, quietly enough so only Frank would be able to overhear and they were whisked away.

They appeared in a swirl of flames and – being that Kyle's concentration was not at its best – proceeded to tumble to the ground. Fortunately, he managed to twist as he fell so the younger boy landed safely atop him. As they climbed back to their feet and stepped away from the hearth, Denny popped into the room to greet them. As soon as the elf saw they were alone and that Harry was obviously upset, he squeaked in worry.

"Oh dears, is youse alright? How can Denny help? Where is the Mistress and Master? Is they well?"

"Denny," Kyle quickly cut him off, "We'll be fine, we just had an incident while we were out. Alice and Neville are fine. I'd imagine they'll catch up soo-"

Before he could finish the fire flared green once again and the Longbottoms emerged from the flames. Not a second later Frank emerged from the fireplace as well. Upon seeing Harry's still teary face, Alice set Neville down and took the boy into her arms. Kyle smiled softly at her fussing, reminded of the motherly hugs he used to receive from Mrs Weasley. He was glad Harry would have someone to fill that role although he was a little saddened that he no longer did.

"And Kyle!" she exclaimed suddenly, giving him a one-armed hug also, "Are you alright too? I could tell you were quite worried…"

Or maybe he did, he thought, as she continued to fuss over the both of them. He gave a small smile and reassured her that he was fine but she continued to fret. At a snort he looked over to see Neville rolling her eyes in her mother's direction before noticing he had Kyle's attention.

"She gets like this sometimes," he stage whispered, "You just have to let her fuss and get it out of her system."

"Neville!" she said in a scolding tone, although she did release the elder Potter from her grasp, "Well, why don't we go to the sitting room and have a little talk?"

Even though she sounded very in control of the situation she did throw Kyle a questioning look. He appreciated that she was deferring to him where it came to Harry. He was after all the boy's guardian. He gave her a nod. Yes, they really did need to have a talk. He had told Harry of his fame but this was the first time that the boy had experienced it and it had obviously terrified the boy.

A hand on his shoulder stopped Kyle in his tracks. He looked up questioningly and saw Frank standing behind him. "You go on with the boy's, Alice." He said. "I just want a word with Kyle."

Alice just nodded and ushered Neville and a reluctant Harry out of the room and towards the sitting room. When they were gone Frank turned back to face Kyle but before he could speak Kyle did.

"Thank you." At Frank's questioning gaze, Kyle elaborated. "For what you did for Harry. I was about to seriously injure that woman and you arriving when you did prevented me from doing that which probably saved me from a sentence in Azkaban if the woman had as much power as her position indicated. I wouldn't be much good to Harry if I was in Azkaban so thank you."

Frank smiled and Kyle and clapped him on the back. "You've got a good head on your shoulders, son. Your little brother is lucky to have you and I think that you handled the situation excellently. I wanted to ask you though if _you _were alright?"

"Me? But it was Harry – " Kyle said confused. Why wouldn't he be alright?

"Yes you, Kyle." Frank said with a smile. It was the same smile that Neville had smiled when he had found out that he was top of the class in Herbology or when he had mastered a spell in the DA it was the smile that Neville had worn when he was proud. In that instant Kyle saw Frank in Neville where he had always seen Alice and in that moment Kyle felt a distinct pang of grief for the Neville that he had known. The slightly pudgy, bumbling Neville who had changed in Fifth Year. The quiet boy who had grown into a quiet but sensible man, an excellent friend.

Argh! Kyle wanted to scream! What was it with today? He just couldn't keep his thoughts in order. He really needed to practice his Occlumency tonight he decided as he forcibly pushed all thoughts of people from his world out of his head and focusing back on what Frank was saying.

"I'm not worried about Harry. I know that you will make sure that the boy is okay. I'm worried about you. You've just recently lost your guardians and then you took custody of Harry. That is a dramatic change in your life."

_Not to mention the fact that I've gone back in time and travelled dimensions, _Kyle thought with a mental grin.

"I've told you before that I'd be like an uncle to you if you'd let me." Frank continued. "That offer still stands. You're a good lad Kyle but you are only sixteen. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm here for you if you ever need to talk or need help. Anytime. You're not alone Kyle. Alice and I – well both you and Harry are now part of the family. And if you ever just need a night off or a couple of days to yourself you can always drop Harry off here. Alice and I will keep an eye on him."

Kyle was touched. Really he was. It was nice to have somebody just ask if he was okay. He hadn't had that since, well since Ron and Hermione – and he was not going to think about that. "Thanks, Frank. Honestly, that means a lot and to answer your question… well, no, I don't think that I'm okay but I will be. And if I'm not I'll call."

Frank nodded and left it at that for which Kyle was grateful. The two then made their way to Alice and the boys were sitting having hot chocolate and cookies. Harry was sitting next to Alice but when Kyle sat down in one of the two-seaters Harry jumped off the couch and after giving her a parting hug hurried over to Kyle and curled up next to him on the sofa. Kyle wrapped his arms around Harry as Frank sat down beside his wife. Alice gave him a questioning look but Frank just shook his head.

"Why did all those people do that?" Harry finally spoke up in a small wavering voice, breaking the silence.

"Harry, I've told you that you were famous." Kyle said giving his brother a gentle squeeze. "That's why all those people acted the way they did."

"Not that that's an excuse," Alice added, "Their behaviour was completely unacceptable."

Both Kyle, Frank and Neville nodded in agreement. "Yeah they could've hurt you, all crowding around like that," the boy said.

"I know you told me but I still don't understand _why_ I'm famous!" Harry said frustrated. "Just because Voldemort didn't kill me! I can't have been the _only _one to survive a Killing Curse!"

"You are, dear." Alice said gently, just as Kyle said, "You're not."

Those simple two words caused all of the other occupants in the room to stare at Kyle but Kyle ignored it, nonplussed; he had been Harry Potter in his old life and being Harry Potter meant that you were stared at constantly.

"On the morning of my sixth birthday," Kyle began after disentangling himself from his brother and beginning to pace. "Our village was attacked by Death Eaters. We lived in a Muggle village but Voldemort must have sensed our magic – mine and my mum's I mean – because he came to see us personally."

Kyle turned around to face his captive audience. Both Alice and Frank were as pale as ghosts, Neville and Harry looked confused and a little scared. Running his hands through his hair and resuming with his quest to wear a hole into the Longbottoms carpet Kyle continued with his story. "Voldemort had fun with my mother first, made me watch too." Never before had Kyle spoken of this, he still didn't want to, but Harry needed to know, Frank and Alice needed to know. "He has a special liking to the Cruciatus Curse, followed by the Killing Curse." His voice was hallow as he spoke, his eyes glassy. "Anyway, one of his Death Eaters came into the house and told Voldemort that the Aurors had arrived. As soon as he heard that Voldemort told his minions to Portkey out and he then threw the Killing Curse at Mum. Before he left though he threw another one at me, he left before it connected with me so he didn't see that I survived."

* * *

Okay, so I wanted to just leave it there as if I didn't then the chapter would be too long. Let me know what you all think! I love reviews. Sorry that I won't be able to update for a few weeks, school and summer tests are just getting a bit on top of me at the moment. Thanks for all the reviewers for the last chapter!

FanGirl93


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **Don't own it. JKR does. Adopted from Nia River. Only own original ideas.

**Chapter 6**

* * *

A sixteen year old boy with jet black hair and emerald green eyes looked about the room he had just appeared in. How he had appeared in said room, he had no idea. He also didn't know how he was going to get out of the room either. The room was spacious enough for two comfortable armchairs and a two-seater couch encircling a coffee table and facing the fire. It was circular in shape and the boy turned slowly to see if he was alone or not. He wasn't.

"Who are you?" There was another boy standing by the window, perfectly relaxed. "Where are we?"

"I'm Kyle Potter. You might know me as the owner of the body that you seem to have taken over." The second boy replied. He moved and held out a hand to the first boy. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Harry Potter. As to where we are, well we're in our mind. This room, this is a safe place that our minds have created for us to meet."

Harry gaped at Kyle. He was out of his mind. Well, maybe that hadn't been the best choice of words but it still fit the situation, weirdly enough. He took the outstretched hand and shook it slowly, still in a daze. "How on earth are we in our _mind?"_ He asked. "And did you say 'mind' as in singular, not plural? How can two people share one mind?"

"Well, technically, we are two minds in the one body. It's confusing, I know that, but when you merged with me we became one person." Kyle sat down on one of the chairs in front of the fire. "What we didn't do however was merge our minds. I think that's what we have to do now, to become just one person in actuality."

Harry was confused. Deeply confused. "Wait, so you're not mad that I stole your body?" That sounded _really_ weird. It was even weirder when Kyle just laughed.

"No," he said, still smiling. "I'm not mad. I was just about dead when we merged. Whatever you did it pulled me back into the living. If being alive means that we have to merge fully then so be it. I'd prefer to be alive rather than dead."

"Okay," Harry said slowly. He moved to sit down on the seat opposite Kyle. "So you think that we have to merge our minds together then?" Kyle nodded in confirmation. "And do you have any idea how we're going to do this?"

After listening to Kyle's following explanation of what they were going to do, Harry regretted asking. It sounded horrible. Kyle explained that there were two minds in the one body. Harry understood that well enough. He didn't understand how they were going to change that though, even when Kyle had explained it. Harry had been right in his assumption that Kyle had seemed like a male version of Hermione Granger.

The first step of 'The Merging' – as both Kyle and Harry had taken to calling it – was easy enough. The pair of them only had to make a copy of their memories. As they were in their minds, they only had to wish for it to happen. When they both said they wanted a copy of their memories two doors appeared in the room. Behind each door was a lifetime of memories in the form of Wizarding photographs. With another thought the two boys had both sets of memories encased in the one room. Both boys then settled down to sort the memories by year. For each year of their life there was a trunk and the memories for each trunk were put in there.

After that was done the boys had to take two new copies of their memories and sort them into other categories such as friends, enemies, things that made them happy, things that made them sad, their school experiences, and subjects. It was a gruelling task. There were times the boys laughed and times they cried but in the end, when all of the memories were sorted out into categories and sub-categories both boys were relieved. They felt closer than they had been at the beginning of the task; they felt more like the one person they were both becoming.

The worst part for Harry had been when he'd had to sort through his memories of his friends and family as he had come across all of his dealings with Ron, Hermione, Sirius and Remus there. He had wanted to leave that section until last in the hopes of finding that he wouldn't have to do it but Kyle had argued against it saying it was best to just get it done. In the end Harry had agreed and had felt a sense of deep relief when the task had been completed.

When they'd finished sorting the memories Kyle had suggested that they go the whole nine yards and build strong defences to protect their slowly combining minds. Harry had agreed, after all, his secret was only as strong as his mind was. Thus, the next step that was taken was the building of barriers around the newly organised memories. Then he had to build barriers around his mind as a whole. That had taken just as long as the actual sorting of the memories.

When the last metaphorical brick of the defensive walls had been put into place a bright light surrounded both Kyle and Harry. When the light had disappeared there was only one sixteen year old left standing. The merging of Harry James Potter and Kyle Ethan Potter was now complete.

Kyle groaned and rolled over in the bed. He was so very tired. In fact, all Kyle wanted to do was bury himself in the comfortable bed he'd found himself in and go back to sleep. He was just about to do that when the door to the room he was in burst open and both Alice and Frank Longbottom charged in. Kyle was confused to see such utter relief present on both their faces.

"Er," Kyle began when Alice started waving her wand over him. He assumed it was a Healers ritual as it was very familiar to what Madame Pomfrey had done to Kyle on more than one occasion. "What's going on? Where am I?" He belatedly noticed that he wasn't in fact in his own room at Potter Manor. "And where's, Harry?"

Kyle tried to push himself up off the bed to go and look for Harry but was stopped by Frank's strong hands keeping him on the bed. "Don't try to get up." He said. "Harry's fine, he's downstairs with, Neville. We'll bring him up in just a moment. You just sit tight and let Alice finish her diagnostics on you."

Kyle nodded and let himself lie back on the fluffy pillows. He wondered what was going on. The last thing he remembered was telling the three Longbottoms about how he had survived the Killing Curse after that… after that he remembered being in that room, his mindscape. "Please don't tell me that I collapsed in front of, Harry?" Kyle really hoped that he hadn't.

"You did, dear." Alice said with a small sympathetic smile. "But don't worry, Harry is fine. You seem to be fine as well, or as fine as one could be after being unconscious for almost nine days. Tell me, dear, do you have any idea as to what happened to you because I don't."

"Occlumency Overload." Kyle muttered. Technically that was exactly what happened. There had been a fundamental error in Kyle's Occlumency, the error being that the two minds that had been present were separate and could not co-exist peacefully with no negative ramifications. Kyle had sorted that now – obviously – but he just couldn't believe that it had taken _nine_ days.

"You know Occlumency?" Frank looked a little bit amazed and so did Alice. Kyle understood, it was a rare art and it was even rarer to find somebody who actually practised it, let alone somebody Kyle's age. If anything, people usually started learning _at_ Kyle's age – if they bothered learning at all – and for Kyle to have had suffered an Occlumency Overload then that would mean that he had been practising it for years. "If you don't mind me asking, when did you start learning?"

"The day I got my first wand," Kyle replied. "My eleventh birthday." There was a reason that children only went to school when they were eleven and that was because it was on a child's eleventh birthday that their magic began to settle or tame itself enough to be wielded consciously. On a student's fifteenth birthday they received another magical surge which was the reason that OWLs were taken that year. Their last magical surge was on their seventeenth birthday. That final surge was what broke the Trace that underage witches and wizards carried around via their wands. This was the reason that NEWTs were taken and the reason that a person was considered an adult at seventeen.

"Unbelievable." Was the last thing Kyle heard before he succumbed to the tiredness that had plagued him since he had woken up.

* * *

_**Mon, 10/2/1992**_

Somewhere in Scotland, in a magical school called Hogwarts, on the second floor, past a stone gargoyle guardian, up a spiral staircase, and through a highly polished oak door, with a brass knocker in the shape of a griffin, there could be found an office. And in this office, were one to look, there was to be found an elderly wizard with a long white beard and periwinkle blue robes, pacing back and forth across the room and muttering angrily to himself. This wizard was called Albus Dumbledore.

"…my plans… ruined… where… find him…"

Finally he threw himself into his seat and gave a frustrated scream, secure in the knowledge that the silencing charms on his office and locking charms on its door would prevent anyone from witnessing his most undignified behaviour.

Slumping in his chair, Dumbledore raised a hand to his throbbing temple. Things were not going well. He sent his mind back to when it had all started; the first Sunday of the February just past.

* * *

**_Fri 7/2/1992_**

The day had gone fairly normally at first. Dumbledore had awoken early and dressed in his favourite lavender and turquoise robes before heading down to breakfast in the Great Hall with the other professors. As expected, most of the students took the opportunity to sleep late, only beginning to trickle in as he was polishing off his pumpkin juice. He had bid his colleagues a cheerful good day, heading back to his office to get some paperwork done and respond to his mail.

There were a number of letters from Minister Fudge, once again seeking his guidance. He had sighed at the incompetence of the man but responded politely all the same. Fudge may not be the cleverest wizard but he did have one redeeming quality, at least in Albus's opinion; he was quite easily controlled. Of course that could also work against the Headmaster; he'd heard rumours that Lucius Malfoy had been courting Cornelius Fudge's ear, and that would not do at all. He would have to keep in closer contact with their esteemed minister, keep the man dependant on him. That was the only way for him to truly ensure that the proper decisions were made in the government. Yes, that seemed best.

By the time lunch had rolled around, he had managed to get through all his mail and perhaps half of his paperwork backlog. He considered calling for a House-Elf to bring him his meal and forging through the rest of it before changing his mind. He instead set the rest aside as he headed down to the great hall once again, this time for lunch.

The meal had passed as usual. Pomona and Poppy were having a discussion about expanding the section for medicinal plants in the greenhouses, to be supplied to the school infirmary. Severus and Rolanda got into a rousing debate once again about something or other. Really, the two quarrelled like children at times. A small scuffle broke out between two of the fourth-years – Gryffindor and Slytherin – but Minerva quickly split them up, deducting points and assigning detentions.

All in all, the whole day seemed determined to be quite normal. Or so he had thought, heading back up to his office. It was as he passed the gargoyle, ascended the rising stairs and then opened his door that the seeming normalcy of the day was shattered – along with his eardrums.

Racing into his office, he followed the wailing and screeching noises to their source. On a shelf behind his desk stood what looked to the unenlightened to be a line of crystal figurines. To Albus Dumbledore however, they were much, much more. Several of those figurines were magically linked to a charm or ward which he had cast. A charm or ward on the famous Harry James Potter. Since the noises were all too loud to tell from which figurine they emanated, he was forced to silence them all and examine them individually. He started from the left, needing to determine the severity of the situation.

The first figurine he chose was of Merlin, bearing his legendary staff. The staff was done in such fine detail that the individual runes carved into it could be seen. This figurine was linked into the magic detecting wards cast around not only the Dursley residence but also the surrounding neighbourhood and young Harry's school.

As he picked the statuette up, it filled with white smoke, as though it were a crystal ball. He watched intently as the smoke began changing colours. He frowned. Red meant Harry had had a magic outburst at school. Blue meant at home. Green meant near to four Privet Drive, merging towards yellow the further away from the house the incident happened. Purple smoke meant the magic was performed by some magician other than Harry.

The smoke in the figurine first flashed green before reverting to white. A moment later it was green again, then white, then green, then white and then green. It then remained white for some time. He was about to return Merlin to his place when the smoke changed colour once more. It flashed blue once before pausing and flashing twice very quickly again. He held it for a while longer but the clouds seemed disinclined to change any further.

Since the figurine was charmed to show outburst in reverse order – from present to past in order of occurrence – he could tell that two almost simultaneous outbursts occurred at the Dursley home followed momentarily after by another. Then, an hour or so later another four instances of magic happened within perhaps ten minutes of each other, a few streets from the house.

This was not good. Harry's emotions must have been much heightened to sustain the state of mind to perform accidental magic for so extended a period of time – and not only inside but also outside the house, in a Muggle neighbourhood nonetheless. Still, the Ministry magical reversal squad no doubt already knew what had happened; he knew they also kept a close eye on the boy. Satisfied that they would handle any reversals and memory charms necessary, he set the crystal Merlin back down.

Next he picked up the figure to Merlin's right. It was of a phoenix, leaning forwards with a tear tracking down its cheek, as though trying to heal someone. The phoenix monitored Harry's health.

He picked it up and watched it fill with white smoke, as Merlin had. He knew that violet meant he was well, blue that his was sick but nothing life-threatening, green that he had a serious illness, yellow meant he was injured, orange meant his condition was severe and life-threatening, and red meant the unthinkable; he had perished.

As he continued to watch, the smoke changed to black. He blinked in surprise. That wasn't supposed to happen. He frowned in concentration, trying to remember what black meant. His eyes widened in alarm when he did. All his figurines where set to smoke black if its ward had fallen or its charm had been removed.

Quite worried now, he quickly put down the phoenix and picked up the statuette next in line; a miniature globe of the world. He watched in worry as it filled with white smoke, quickly turning black. His tracking charms had been disabled. He replaced the globe, snatching up the next without pause.

This one was of a chess piece; a pawn. This one ensured that Harry would not cause trouble, encouraging loyal towards him; or it would when they actually met. For now it simply made sure the boy would not wander far from home. It also made him disinclined to be a trouble maker and to want to protect others before himself; all traits he needed the boy to have if he was to play the role destiny had dictated was his. His alarm increased tenfold as the smoke that had appeared within the pawn turned black. This would not do. He could not have the boy out of his control or Voldemort might triumph.

Fearing what might happen next, he picked up the last of the magically linked figurines. This one was of a mother holding a baby. If one looked close enough they could see a faint lightning bolt on the babe's forehead. This one reported the state of the blood wards – the redder the smoke the stronger the wards. The statuette filled with white smoke before giving only the faintest, barely noticeable hint of pink.

He stared for a moment in disbelief. Either the linking charm was damaged or the wards had fallen and the only way for the wards to fall was for one of three things to happen. One, a curse breaker had brought them down, this being highly unlikely. Two, Petunia had retracted her willingness to house Harry in her home. Or three, Petunia Dursley had somehow perished.

A frown began crossing his face. He did not like complications in his plans. He was determined to find out which of the three possibilities had occurred, not to mention the reason for the other figurines smoking black. Angrily slamming the figurine back onto the shelf, he strode determinedly towards his fireplace, throwing in a handful of Floo powder.

"Wisteria Walk!" he shouted, sticking his head into the flames.

The fire rushed around him before settling, leaving him looking out into a femininely decorated Muggle-style living room that would have passed for ordinary, were it not for the inordinate number of felines gracing the furniture.

"Arabella!" he called.

There was the sound of light footsteps and a middle aged woman with greying hair and wearing tartan slippers and a house coat appeared in the doorway. She stared at the flames in slight surprise before taking a seat in an armchair before her fireplace, setting the cat she had displaced on her lap and scratching it behind the ears.

"Professor Dumbledore! What a surprise to see you."

"Arabella, a pleasure to see you as always," he twinkled knowing the importance of niceties in keeping his people loyal.

"And you sir. What can I do for you? Is this about the James look-alike?" she asked, immediately grabbing his attention.

"James look-alike?" he asked before shaking his head, assuming a stern expression and watching in satisfaction as she straightened up attentively, "I'm afraid I'm calling with unsettling news. I have reason to believe that Harry has been taken from Privet Drive. Have you seen anything; this James person perhaps?"

"Oh dear, this is terrible news," she exclaimed before gathering herself together, "Well, it was around lunchtime and I was walking to the supermarket to fetch a few boxes of Kittastic Cat Food as I had run out. I still had a few boxes of the cheaper Cat Chow of course but my Mr Tibbles is quite picky and he'll only eat the Kitta-"

"Arabella," Dumbledore cut her off looking quite grave, "I do not mean to sound rude but I really need you to hurry your explanation along. Time may be of the essence."

"Oh, apologies Headmaster," she blushed before going on, "So I was on the way to the supermarket – which leads me past Privet Drive – when I happened to notice a boy leaving from the Dursleys carrying young Harry."

"Did you investigate to ensure he was not kidnapping the boy?"

"Well, no," she said flustered before explaining, "Mr and Mrs Dursley were seeing him off from the door, holding it open and everything. Added to that it _was_ only a boy and I thought there was nothing to worry over. I did get quite the shock when I took a proper look at him though. I was a distance away but I'd swear he was the spitting image of a young James Potter."

"Hmm," Dumbledore stroked his beard thoughtfully, "So you didn't follow them then?"

"No, I didn't. As I said, I thought there was nothing to worry over, even with such a strange likeness. I can tell you they were headed towards the park though."

"Very well. You have been most helpful, Arabella." he said with a thankful smile

In his head however, he was silently cursing the woman's decision to do nothing. A boy looking the mirror of James Potter, leaving the Dursleys with Harry was the sort of thing that warranted investigation. The whole reason for basing the squib there had been to keep an eye on the boy and she had missed a prime opportunity to do just that.

Sighing he focused back on the matter at hand. Arabella had indicated that Harry had left with the stranger with the Dursley's full knowledge and consent. He needed to pay them a visit and see what exactly had happened. Nodding in decision he looked up at the woman, sitting there patiently.

"I'll be coming through. I need to speak to the Dursleys."

"Of course, sir."

Pulling his head from the fireplace he stood up in his office. After ensuring that he had his wand on him, he stepped into the flames and was whirled off to Little Whinging, where he stepped out gracefully into Arabella's living room.

"Can I get you anything Headmaster? Tea perhaps?" the squib asked, standing up on his arrival.

"No, I really must get going. But thank you for the offer."

"Of course."

With that, he swept from the house and strode towards Privet Drive, too focused on his goal to pay any mind to the strange looks he received for his rather unusual attire. Reaching number four he passed through the gate then up the walk, reaching the door and rapping sharply upon it three times.

From within the house he could hear light footsteps approaching the door and then a pause, followed by the sound of a lock unlocking. The door swung inwards, revealing a smiling Petunia Dursley. As soon as she saw him however, her welcoming expression slid from her face, replaced by one of distaste.

"You," she muttered.

Then, she suddenly swept a look up and down him, taking in his long beard, lavender and turquoise robes and high-heeled buckled boots. Her eyes widened and her neck craned forwards, looking rapidly about.

"Quickly, get in here, before anyone sees you!" she said in a harsh whisper, dragging him in by the arm.

He stumbled forward into the house at the unexpected action and the woman took the opportunity to quickly shut the door, before flitting about to the visible windows and tugging their curtains shut.

Quite put out with the treatment he was receiving – first being dragged about, then practically ignored – he gave a pointed cough, watching in satisfaction as Mrs Dursley squeaked and spun around, her face paling as she took in his stern glare. Still, her distaste for him seemed as strong as – if not stronger than – her fear, as she soon gathered herself again. She pulled herself upright and looked down her nose at him.

"Well, get on with it. What do you want?"

"I need to speak with you and your husband about a most important matter," he said, staring at her over his half-moon spectacles, "Is he in?"

She sniffed, "Follow me."

She led him to the living room, quickly pulling the curtains in there closed as well.

"Take a seat, I'll get him."

And with that she was gone.

Albus stared at the door through which she had exited a dissatisfied look on his face. She really was a very unpleasant woman. He almost felt some pity for young Harry having to live here. Of course, 'almost' was the key word in that sentence. There was no point in regretting his decision now; it was for the best after all. His aunt's blood provided strong protective wards and having the boy raised as a Muggle would make it easier for him to step in as the guiding grandfather figure; better able to lead Harry towards his destiny. And if his family were less than pleasant… well, it was better than the alternative. Better that Harry be overly humble than raised as a spoiled brat. Of course, all his plans would be useless if he didn't get the Potter boy back here where he belonged.

He looked up as the sound of heavy footsteps, watching the skinny Dursley woman re-enter the room with her oversized husband. Petunia stopped near the doorway, her arms folded and a sour look upon her face, obviously intending to let her husband lead the conversation. For his part, upon seeing the strangely dress wizard in his living room, Vernon Dursley's face turned quickly to white, followed just as rapidly by an angry red.

"Now see here, what do you think you are doing in my house?" he demanded, his moustache twitching angrily.

Dumbledore – whist inwardly annoyed at the man's behaviour – merely took a seat, folding his hands in his lap and looking quite calm.

"Why don't you both have a seat, hmm?" he suggested.

Then he whipped out his wand and watched with an extra bright twinkle in his eye as two armchairs were animated and walked over to the two Muggles. The woman shrieked and the man cursed as they bumped against the back of their legs, until they each finally took the hint and sat down.

"Tea, scones?"

He hid his amusement at their reactions as he conjured up the items on a silver platter, sitting on their coffee table. Mr Dursley's face was changing rapidly from white to red to purple then back to white again. It was actually somewhat worrying. Mrs Dursley sat rigidly, wringing her hands. Her face was a strange mix of emotion - her eyes wide in fright and her lips pursed in distaste. He poured himself a cup of tea and took a sip before deciding he'd had enough fun and that it was time to get down to business.

"Harry left your house in the company of another, older boy at around lunchtime today," he said seriously, "Tell me everything that happened."

Vernon apparently did not take well to an order coming from a wizard and seemed ready to start shouting. He was stopped however as his wife reached a hand across and gripped his arm tightly. She turned to look at the Headmaster, and began speaking in a strained voice.

"The stranger was the boy's older brother."

"Did he give a name?"

"Kyle Ethan Potter, according to the papers."

"Papers?"

"Yes, the adoption papers."

Dumbledore sat up straight, eyes widening in alarm.

"What do you mean adoption papers? You were both charged to look after the boy, he is your responsibility. Not to mention that Harry has no older brother!"

"Now see here!" Vernon blustered, "We took in that freak boy out of the goodness of our hearts; feeding him, clothing him and providing for him. And we did it because it was the respectable thing to do as much as we hated him. But, we were led to believe that we were the only family that could take him. Now along comes this Kyle Potter saying he's the boy's family and can take custody. Well, that changes everything. We're not the boy's only relatives anymore so there's no reason we should have to put up with him. And we didn't. We signed those bloody papers right away and let the fellow leave with the boy."

"And as for him having no brothers," Petunia added, "If those boy's aren't brothers then they must be cousins or something. That Kyle boy looked exactly like Harry as well as Lily's husband. All of them with that horridly messy hair. No, they're related; there's not a doubt in my mind about that."

Dumbledore took in their words without comment although inwardly he was more than a little bothered at the strength of their dislike for their nephew. As they spoke he used his Legilimency skills to ensure they were being truthful. He also took the opportunity to pull up their memories of this morning to see them for himself.

He watched as Petunia greeted a stranger at her front door – a stranger with a keen resemblance to the Potters – and invited him in. Although there were no flaws in the boy's appearance that would signal a glamour being used, he would not be able to tell for sure unless he met this boy in person. He could usually see easily through glamour charms, but not from a memory.

He kept watching as Vernon and Petunia returned to their guest who introduced himself as Kyle Potter, Harry Potter's supposed brother. He watched the curses fly and then listened to this Kyle offer to take the Dursleys' ward. He was dismayed as he then felt their eagerness to be rid of young Harry, as they quickly signed the provided parchments. Those parchments more than anything bothered him. He couldn't tell without inspecting them personally but they seemed quite authentic.

As the memories continued be barely held back a gasp as this Kyle spoke of where the Dursleys had been keeping Harry, proving his point by going to the cupboard under the stairs and then opening the door. Inside, as he had claimed, was Harry Potter, sitting on a thin cot.

Once he was done watching their memories he tried to decide on the best course of action. He was shocked that the Dursleys' hatred of magic had extended so far that they kept their own nephew in such conditions. A part of him wanted to see these Muggles punished and ensure Harry never came near them again. The logical side of him however vetoed the idea.

The prophecy clearly stated that Harry had a destiny to fulfil and Dumbledore felt it was his responsibility to keep Harry safe and sound until he could do it. As much as he might not like the idea, he knew that with the Blood Wards, number four Privet Drive was one of the safest places for him. That did not mean he wouldn't ensure conditions improved for the boy hero though.

Decided, he stood, glaring at both the Muggles and flexing his aura eerily. His audience paled at the display of seeming anger. Whilst normally he wouldn't try to use such intimidation to get his way, he felt it may be the best way to get across to these people; perhaps the only way to get through to the blustering Vernon Dursley.

"I am disgusted that you would both to carelessly hand Harry over to a complete stranger. Such a resemblance could easily be faked by magic. If harm comes to young Harry from your callous disregard for his safety then I assure you that you will both be held accountable.

"More than that, I am sorely disappointed to know you have let your dislike for magic go so far. Yes, I know now where you have forced you're nephew to live and I am very disappointed in you both."

He paused then and reigned his aura back in. The Dursleys both seemed too terrified to argue, even the fat one. Adopting a considering expression he stared hard at them both of them before continuing on in a softer voice.

"However, I can be forgiving. In fact, if Harry is found unharmed I believe I would be willing to give you both another chance," he offered, appearing magnanimous, "I will return Harry to your care when I find him and I expect you both to take better care of him this time. He will be given a proper bedroom and I don't want to hear of you two willingly handing him over to a stranger again. Do you both understand?"

Both nodded rapidly, looking grateful for his mercy. He had to struggle a bit to keep the satisfied look off of his face. Since that both agreed, he resumed his normal knowing expression, eye-twinkling and all.

"Well, I am so glad that we have come to an accord," he said, standing up, "As soon as I find your nephew I will have him returned to you. Good day."

Then, without waiting for a response from either of them, he Apparated away with a '_pop_'.

* * *

Dumbledore Apparated into the park Arabella had indicated the boys were heading to, surprising a family having a picnic. A few quick memory charms later and the family were leaving the park, remembering having finished their lunch in peace with no strange happenings at all.

Casting a magical detection spell, he watched as two areas lit up near one of the picnic tables. A closer look showed that one of the glows seemed to hover over the bench and the other was surrounding a stick lying on the ground.

Unable to divine anything further, he cast the magical detection spell again. He looked around but saw no other glows indicating magic usage. He was just about to leave the park when a flicker of light caught his attention. Heading in that direction, he found another couple magical traces behind a copse of trees, both glows hovering above the ground.

Further inspection gave no further information of the lower trace. He got lucky with the higher one however, when he discovered it had been a portkey. Nodding in satisfaction, his work here done, he Apparated away once again.

* * *

Arriving in the Ministry of Magic's apparition area, he quickly cast a notice-me-not charm on himself. His business was too important to be distracted by fans and politicians wishing to speak to him, however well-meaning they may be.

Ten minutes later, he had made his way to the records department, making himself momentarily invisible and slipping past the workers, looking for the personal file on Harry Potter. Soon finding the filing cabinet dedicated to the Potter family, he opened it and riffled through the folders till he found Harry's. Holding his breath, he opened it then he sagged in dismay. There, right on top, was a flat parchment copy of an adoption contract, making one Kyle Ethan Potter the rightful guardian of Harry James Potter.

The fact that the adoption papers were genuine had really tied his hands. The only way to overturn the contract would be to take the matter to the Wizarding courts. Unfortunately, the only reason the Dursleys had be able to take custody in the first place was because he had gone against the Potters' will, even going so far as to use magic to ensure it was never read.

If the matter was brought to court, the will would be required to be presented, and he would be in a whole lot of trouble. He could try explaining why he had done it; that the Blood Wards provided the best possible protection for young Harry. Unfortunately, the Wizarding world placed a great deal of importance on wills and rather than the public accepting his reasons, it was far more likely that they would rebel against him, demanding he faced charges or some such.

Sighing, Dumbledore plucked a lemon drop from the bag in his pocket and popped it into his mouth. Hmm, sour… rather like his mood. He groaned at the maudlin thought and cast his mind back to what had happened after he had discovered the adoption papers were genuine.

* * *

**_Sun, 8/3/1992_**

Dumbledore was sitting at the head table for breakfast, contemplating the search for Harry, when the morning mail had arrived. A gasp from his left moments later drew his attention. His Deputy Headmistress was staring avidly at an article on the front page of the Daily Prophet. In fact, it seemed quite a great number of breakfast-goers were doing the same. Since he received so much mail on a daily basis, he had personal owl wards which redirected all his mail to his office. Thus he was without his own copy of the newspaper at this time and left not knowing what the fuss was about.

"Problem Minerva?" he asked, hoping she would clear the matter up.

"What in Merlin's name was Harry Potter doing in Diagon Alley yesterday Albus?" she asked, giving him her newspaper along with a questioning look.

Eyes widening, we quickly took the proffered newspaper and scanned over the main article.

_Boy-Who-Lived Spotted in Diagon Alley_

_By Deidre Devonport_

_Alley goers yesterday afternoon were treated to a rare sight. It seems the reclusive Harry Potter, defeater of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, was in attendance. One Samuel Anders was the first to spot the young hero._

"_I lost my grip on my newspaper and was chasin' after it when a little boy catches it for me. I stopped to thank him and that's when I saw the scar," Anders explains excitedly._

_Unfortunately this reporter must report that not all went well. Upon hearing that their hero was present, shoppers flocked over to see him. In their enthusiasm however, they overwhelmed young Harry and two witches shamefully admit to having knocked him over in their haste to meet him._

"_I didn't even notice that he'd fallen at first," one of the witches, who chooses to remain nameless, admits tearfully, "Until suddenly a voice starts shouting over the crowd, telling us to move away from little Harry."_

_Eyewitnesses report that the stranger bore a startling resemblance to a young James Potter, deceased father of the Boy-Who-Lived. The James Potter look-alike then proceeded to make his way to the downed boy hero, sending__Stupefy and Petrificus Totalus curses to those who didn't make way._

"_It wasn't till the stranger reached little Harry and the boy threw himself into the strangers arms that we realised he was crying," the unnamed witch says, "I felt right horrid just about then; everyone did. The stranger said we should be ashamed of our behaviour and he was absolutely right._

_What happened next though is the talk of the Alley. Delores Jane Umbridge, Senior Undersecretary of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge demanded that the stranger relinquish young Harry to her so she could take him to the Minister._

"_It was obvious that the boy knew the teenager. He was clinging to him like he was never going to let go again. The teenager didn't look like he was going to risk letting young Harry go either."_

_The teenager demanded to know who the Undersecretary was and under what authority he was to relinquish the boy too. Before things could escalate further Senior Auror Longbottom arrived on scene and greeted the teenager by 'Lord Potter.' Yes readers, you have read that right! The stranger has been identified as Lord Kyle Ethan Potter, Head of the Ancient and Noble House of Potter. And what's more readers, witnesses claimed to have seen the teen wearing The Ring. This has been confirmed by Gringotts bank. What's more interesting though is the fact that Lord Potter is in fact young Harry Potter's half-brother. Gringotts has also confirmed that since claiming his Lordship, Lord Potter has also claimed custody of one Harry Potter._

_This reporter is happy to report though that Lord Potter did not let his little brother's would-be-kidnapper away with her crimes as when Madam Umbridge attempted to have Lord Potter arrested for slandering Minister Fudge, Lord Potter turned the tables on her and had _her_ arrested for the attempted kidnap of his brother._

"_He didn't slander anybody," says one witness in defence of Lord Potter. "He merely told Auror Longbottom that he was preventing an 'attempted kidnapping' that Madam Umbridge had claimed to be 'sanctioned by the Minister himself.' That was the truth as Madam Umbridge did ask who the teenager was to deny the Minister the chance to meet young Harry."_

_According to Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter has been living with his Muggle relatives since the defeat of You-Know-Who. One wonders then what he was doing in Diagon Alley with his older brother if this is in fact true. The trial of Delores Umbridge has already been scheduled to take place in a months' time. One wonders what Albus Dumbledore's response to yesterday's excitement in Diagon Alley will be. Rest assured readers, that__Deidre Devonport intends to find out._

Dumbledore's mind rapidly considered how he should respond. He could deny having had any knowledge of the Boy-Who-Lived's change in location but most would be disbelieving – one of the few drawbacks of presenting an aura of omniscience. However, if he admitted to knowing then he would surely come under fire for leaving the boy with a teenage guardian. He supposed he could admit to having known and assure Minerva at the same time that the newspapers were misinformed – that this Kyle Potter was really a competent guardian after all. Yes, that seemed the best course of action. After all, if the newspapers kept going on this way then the Ministry would eventually step in – to assuage the public if nothing else – which may lead to a trial of some description. Such a thing, he already knew, would be disastrous for him. He couldn't risk the Potter Will getting out. Decided, he let his face fall into one of weariness.

"Alas, I had hoped to keep this knowledge quiet for a while longer."

"You mean you knew?" she asked him harshly, "You knew that such a person had taken guardianship of Harry?"

"Why Minerva," he said, lowering his spectacles to shoot her a disapproving expression over the top of them, "Surely you know better than to believe everything you read? I can assure you that Kyle Potter is a most capable guardian for young Harry."

With a nod, Minerva turned back to her meal and he sighed in relief. Turning back to his own breakfast, his eyes glanced about the hall. This upcoming trial could be a blessing in disguise for Dumbledore, he could finally have a valid reason to meet with this Lord Potter and see about his intentions towards young Harry. Yes, this trial could be a very good thing indeed.

* * *

**_Tue, 14/4/1992_**

The trial of Dolores Umbridge took place in Courtroom One on the orders of the Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge. This courtroom was apparently designed for criminals who were tried for petty crimes such as petty theft. Fudge obviously thought that the attempted theft of a child was petty. Frank had told Kyle that usually a person facing attempted kidnapping charges would be tried in Courtroom Seven as it was a very sever charge but due to Fudge's meddling they had been forced to move to Courtroom One. Kyle wasn't too bothered about this. The charges remained the same even if the location had changed regardless of what Fudge tried to do.

It was strange really, Kyle mused as he tightened his arm that was wrapped around Harry's shoulders; it didn't really seem like two weeks since the incident in Diagon Alley and when Kyle told Alice and Frank his history. Of course, that may be because he had been unconscious for most of it but even so. It didn't really matter. He had his head sorted out properly – at last – and Frank and Alice knew a little bit more about him which enabled them to trust him that little bit more. Of course, that nine-day siesta _had _been unplanned and irksome.

"Alright there, son?" Kyle was torn from his thoughts when Frank sat down on the side that was unoccupied by Harry. Alice sat on Harry's far side, enclosing the two Potter's from the rest of the world. It was a subtle but reassuring move on the Longbottom's part, one that Kyle appreciated.

"I'm fine," Kyle replied. "It's not me that I'm worried about though." He nodded down at Harry who was quite pale and had been very quiet all morning. Harry hadn't really wanted to come but Kyle thought that it was best that they went through with the charges for three reasons. The first being because Harry had had no one to stand up for him before and this was a chance for Kyle to prove that _he _was going to stand up for Harry if Harry himself was unable to. The second being that this would show the world that Kyle was no push-over when it came to his little brothers safety. The third reason was that Kyle felt that Umbridge deserved what was coming to her as she was a bitch and she obviously had no scruples about using her position to break the law, much like her counterpart in Kyle's old world.

At nine AM sharp, the back doors to the courtroom opened and the Wizengamot members dressed in their horrible plum robes filed in, Albus Dumbledore, the Chief Warlock at the head. Delores Umbridge was led in behind them by two Aurors and Fudge took a seat next to Dumbledore.

Kyle pulled Harry up into his lap when he felt the lad shaking beside him. Obviously Delores Umbridge had more of an impact on Harry than Kyle had originally thought. This only served to strengthen Kyle's drive to see Umbridge punished. _Nobody_ had the right to terrify his little brother.

Once everybody was seated Dumbledore began by listing the interrogators and the witnesses for defence. Kyle found it interesting but not surprising that Fudge wasn't an interrogator; instead the man had himself listed as a witness for the defence. Well, if Fudge wished to dig his hole deeper then Kyle wasn't going to object.

"Delores Jane Umbridge," he said looking directly at Umbridge. "You have been charged by Lord Kyle Ethan Potter with the attempted kidnapping of his younger brother, Harry James Potter. How do you plead?"

"Not guilty," Umbridge said in her simpering voice. "In fact, I see no reason for this trial to be held at all, let alone against me. I am the Senior Undersecretary for the Minister. I have done no wrong."

Kyle honestly didn't care about her seniority when it came to being under the Minister and by the looks of things neither did Dumbledore or Madam Bones. "Your plea has been noted. Please do not speak other than to answer the questions asked of you in future or you shall have to be silenced."

Kyle just about managed to refrain from snickering at the look on Umbridge's face. Served her right, the ugly toad.

"We will now hear from the accuser, Lord Potter." Dumbledore looked at Kyle, "Lord Potter, please take the stand."

Kyle bent his head towards Harry. "Stay here with Uncle Frank and Aunt Alice." He said. "I'll just be over there, I won't be leaving and you'll be able to see me the whole time. Okay?"

"Okay." Harry slid off Kyle's lap and leaned into Alice's side when she wrapped a supportive arm around him.

After Kyle took a seat at the front of the court and had sworn on his magic to tell the truth Dumbledore began the questioning. This was one part of the procedure that Kyle was wary of, he was sure that Dumbledore wasn't too happy with him – he had after all removed Harry from the Dursleys _care_ and thus the Blood Wards had collapsed. There was also the fact that Dumbledore obviously knew that Kyle had read the Potter Will. If he hadn't he wouldn't have been able to claim the Lordship of the Potter Line. So it was an apprehensive Kyle Potter who looked Albus Dumbledore in the eye and prayed to Merlin that Dumbledore wouldn't attempt Legilimency as Kyle didn't fancy testing his Occlumency shields against Dumbledore.

"You are Lord Kyle Ethan Potter of…" Dumbledore made a show of looking down at the parchments in front of him and then smiled apologetically at Kyle. "I'm sorry, but we don't have an address listed for you or your brother?"

Well Kyle certainly had to give the headmaster his due; such an innocuous question but an undoubtedly dangerous one. "Yes, I am Lord Kyle Ethan Potter. As to my address, well as I am not on trial I see no need to submit that to the records as it is not a legal requirement. For security reasons I do not wish to broadcast where myself and my brother lives. It could pose a threat to my brother after all."

The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes dimmed a little at that answer, he had obviously expected to learn where Harry was living and was unused to being denied information. Kyle didn't mind rocking that boat.

"Nobody in this society poses a threat to your brother, as the Minister of Magic I demand that you tell us where you live."

Kyle turned to face the flustered Minister. "Nobody poses a threat to my brother?" he repeated. At the Minister's nod Kyle's eyes went cold. "Perhaps Minister you should think before you make such observations. After all, if nobody poses a threat to my brother then would you please inform me why we are here? Oh wait, I can do that. _Your_ Undersecretary attempted to kidnap _my_ little brother. And when asked under whose authority, she claimed _yours._ Forgive me, _Minister,_ if I do not agree with your assurance of my brother's safety."

"How _dare_ you speak to the Minister like that, Cornelius –" Umbridge was cut off by the promised Silencing Charm which Madam Bones happily administered. "Lord Potter is correct, Minister." Madam Bones said. "He is under no legal obligation to inform the Ministry of his address or of his brother's address unless an offence is committed by either one of them. Now perhaps we could get back to the trial on hand?"

After receiving a nod from an embarrassed Minister Dumbledore took over once again. "Lord Potter, could you please tell us what occurred between yourself, your brother and Delores Umbridge on March seventh which led to this trial today?"

"I could, Chief Warlock," Kyle answered. "I could also show you my memory of that day in a Pensieve if this court has access to one?" The court did indeed have access to one and twenty minutes later the Wizengamot were voting on Umbridge's guilt. The verdict was almost unanimous, only about four or five had sided with Umbridge's defence of 'I'm the Senior Undersecretary to the Minister.'

"Delores Jane Umbridge," Dumbledore began in a sombre voice. "This Court has found you guilty of the attempted kidnapping of one Harry James Potter on the seventh of March of this year. You are sentenced to three years in Azkaban for your crimes. Aurors!" Dumbledore then turned to look at Fudge who was still on Dumbledore's right. "Cornelius Fudge, you have been implicated in this attempted kidnapping and your defence of the would-be-kidnapper further implicates you. As the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot I declare that an investigation shall be carried out to see if you were in fact a willing party in this scheme. This court is adjourned."

"Come on, Harry." Kyle said with a smile. "How about we go tell Neville the good news and then get some ice-cream." Now all they had to do was leave without crossing paths with Albus Dumbledore. Alas, that was not to be as the first person they met after rising from their seats was the Headmaster of Hogwarts himself.


End file.
